The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-05-26

WEST INDIAN PLANTS.
New York Botanists Collect Interest
ing Specimens.

New York Botanists Collect Interest
ing Specimens.
DR.. N l. Britton. of the botanical
museum, talked most interestingly Of
the vegetation of the West Indies in the
lecture course which is being given at
the museum. The museum has been
devoting itself to the botanical explo-
ration of these islands for two years
past, keeping some one in the field most
of the time, and constantly adding fine
specimens to the greenhouses. The
richness of the West Indies as a bo-
tanical field is out of all proportion tc,
their extent, for scarcely any other por-
ton of the earth's surface produces Sc
many species not found elsewhere on
the globe On the little island of St.
Kits. for instance, not SO large as
States Island fifteen species have been
discovered which are not known outside
this little bit of troDic earth. In the
mountains of Jamaica fifty-Six species
have been discovered not known else.
where. The most curious feature of this
case IS that no two islands are alike.
and one viii have plants quite unknown
IN the next one This makes it neces-
sary to explore each one separately ana
carefully, in order to know the whole
In all the islands there is a marked
difference between the vegetation of
the mountains and the coast. The
mountains intercept the trade winds
ana other air currents, and the result
is tropical jungle, while often the
coast, as in the case of the southern
coast of Cuba, win more nearly resem-
bic the arid plains of the southwest In
an island as small as Porto Rico the
rainfall varies from 1870 inches in some
sections TO scarcely more than 40inches,
which is the rainfall of New York The
soils. too, are formed simply of the dis
indignation of the rock of which tile
island is composed, in distinction to the
soil of the mainland, where the ice
foes of the glacial period brought down
and mingled the soils of widely sep
arated territories. These conditions are
probably responsible for the unique boz
tanical conditions often found.
In many respects, however, the is
lands resemble one another. In landing
upon the sandy beach of any one of
them the sand dunes would be found
covered with a mass of morning glory
vines. single plants often creeping yards
in length The stiff spikes or spanish
bayonet a tree some thirty feet nigh,
with bavonet-lilxe leaves, also guard
every coast line, while the sea grape, with
its great tropical leaves and ITS toot-
long punches of grape-like frult, IS
striking feature of seashore vegetation
On 81 kits. where fire wood is scarce,
tilis sea grape furnishes the only fuel
they have to some twenty thousand
colored people
.srrhis is the harbor for the sake OF
which our government attempted 70
purchase the Danish West indies lasI
year" said DR.. Britton, as he threw a
picture of St. Thomas on the screen
1T is the best harbor east Of CUBA.
The entrance is not more than LOU feet
from shore to shore and it would Sc
clirelv shelter a fleet ten times the size
of our North Atlantic squadron.
DR. Britton commended in the hlgnest
terms the work es the botanical expert
ment stations in the British West IN
dian islands. "They have been estap
lished by the home government, ssalu
he ssfo investigate the botany of the IS
lands study plant diseases and intro
duce new and profitable methods OF
agriculture to the people. Sucn a sta
ton in Cuba would be worm mllHohs %
that island in the next ten years. Tor
the agricultural and horticultural meth-
DDS in Cuba are primitive IN the eA-
treme.
meets the fresh will be found the man
grove swamDs. which help to build up
the soil The mangrove has very GU
rious habit of terminating its young
plant on its trunk. whence it drops on
and takes root in the swamp below, an
extremely rare practice among plants.
Another plant peculiar in its habits Of
reproductiOl is the bamboo 1t IS reailN
j GREAT grass the largest of all the
grasses growing sixty feet high on the
hillsides and walls of the ravines. 50
inffequently does 1t hover ana Hnit
that many species are not even named
bofanicallv because its blossoms and
seeds have never been seen DR.. Bril-
ton asked a man who had lived for
many years beside a bamboo grove "
he had ever seen it flower. The man
replied that he had not and that it was
generally held in that region that oan
boos never lowered; much as an old
Jack Tar viii assert that Mother
Carey's chickens never go to land, and
hatch their chickens under their wings:
ssOf course the bamboo does flower"
said the speaker, but at extremely
long and Irregular intervals. A grove
of them was known in India which
lived sixty wears without Towering.
when suddenly it fruited so 2rofusely
thar the ground was covered with the
seed
I'm the island OF jamaica he con-
tfnued. there are 500 different varieties
Of ferns all the way from a plant less
than an inch high to a tree fern tower
ing sixty feet above the earth. You can
get ANYTHING YOU want in the fern lire
between those two in Jamaica New
York Tribune