No matter - we'll fudge it and say vaguely that the islands are 'in the West Indies,' lumping them in with all the islands between North and South America. Politically, The Bahamas is considered part of the Caribbean - not least by its own government. The islands become more arid and less vegetated as you move south, where hardy drought-resistant scrub and cacti predominate. There are over 1370 species of trees and plants found on the islands, including the Bahamian mahogany and 120 other natives. Pine forests rule the northern and western islands, characterized by a shrubby understory of palmetto, cabbage palm and fern.
Flowers abound every month of the year.
Many are associated with trees, such as the Pride of India, a large tree that when in flower becomes a cloud of lavender. Another beauty is the blue mahoe, an endemic form of hibiscus that blazes from yellow to red. The archipelago has only 13 native land mammal species, all but one being bats, all being endangered. The most common is the leaf-nosed bat. The only native terrestrial mammal is the endangered hutia, a cat-sized brown rodent akin to a guinea pig.