The flora of Montserrat consists of almost 1200 vascular plant species [1] and a currently unknown number of bryophytes. The flora is consistent with neighboring islands of the Lesser Antilles. There are three endemic species described, one of which is presumed extinct in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption beginning in 1995.
Montserrat has not been thoroughly botanized, and while the first checklist for the island was presented in Richard Howard's Flora of the Lesser Antilles, [2] Montserrat was neither a significant focus nor thoroughly surveyed. In recent years, there has been an increase in botanical activity in Montserrat, but the results of this research have yet to be published outside of a web-hosted database. [3] For an island in an area known for its biodiversity, relatively few species have been collected. Additionally, most collections from the island were made before the current volcanic activity, necessitating further research. Since 2010, botanists from Kew Botanic Gardens and Bard College at Simon's Rock have been adding to the collections made.
Due to its topographical variation, Montserrat is host to diverse ecological environments. The Eastern side of the island is dry and predominantly populated by plants in the genus Acacia, while the central and Western parts of the island, particularly the Centre Hills Nature Preserve, includes tropical rainforests and cloud forests at high elevations. [4]
More than 1100 vascular plants have been recorded on Montserrat, almost 1000 of which are angiosperms. There are three described endemics: an epiphytic orchid (Epidendrum montserratense), [5] a woody plant in the coffee family known by the common name "pribby" ( Rondeletia buxifolia ), [6] and a treelet in the willow family ( Xylosma serrata ). [7] X. serrata is possibly extinct, as it has not been observed since its habitat was buried in pyroclastic flow. [8]
Only two gymnosperms have been recorded on Montserrat: Araucaria heterophylla and Podocarpus coriaceus . Of the ferns recorded, there are four tree ferns in the family Cyatheaceae and sixteen filmy ferns, among over 100 others. Nine species of Lycophytes have been recorded.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 staff. Its board of trustees is chaired by Dame Amelia Fawcett.
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The flora of Great Britain and Ireland is one of the best documented in the world. There are 1390 native species and over 1100 well-established non-natives documented on the islands. A bibliographic database of the species has been compiled by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. The lists give an English name and a scientific name for each species, and two symbols are used to indicate status.
Quercus copeyensis is a species of oak endemic to the Talamancan montane forests of Costa Rica and Panama. It is commonly called Panamanian oak.
Sporobolus is a nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. The name Sporobolus means "seed-thrower", and is derived from Ancient Greek word σπόρος (spóros), meaning "seed", and the root of βάλλειν (bállein) "to throw", referring to the dispersion of seeds. Members of the genus are usually called dropseeds or sacaton grasses. They are typical prairie and savanna plants, occurring in other types of open habitat in warmer climates. At least one species is threatened with extinction, and another is extinct.
Anogramma ascensionis, the Ascension Island parsley fern, is a species of fern in the family Pteridaceae that is endemic to Ascension Island, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is one of eight putative species in the genus Anogramma. It was thought to have become extinct due to habitat loss, until four plants were found on the island in 2010. Over 60 specimens were then successfully cultivated at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and on Ascension Island. It is now classified as Critically Endangered.
Campylospermum serratum is a plant in the family Ochnaceae. The specific epithet serratum is from the Latin meaning "with teeth", referring to the leaf margin. It is found in Tropical Asia, from Sulawesi, Indonesia to Hainan, Zhōngguó/China and over to southwestern India. Gomphia serrata was a previous common name for the species. The plant is used for it wood and its sap is used in folk medicine and in the past for teeth-blackening.
Schoepfia arenaria is an extremely rare species of hemiparasitic flowering plant in the Schoepfiaceae family. It grows as a small, multi-trunked tree. It is endemic to Puerto Rico, where it is found growing along the northern coast. A local Spanish vernacular name recorded for this tree is araña ('spider'). It has no common name in English.
Schoepfia harrisii is a species of flowering plant in the Schoepfiaceae family. It is a small tree or shrub, growing two to five metres tall. It is endemic to Jamaica, where it is only known to occur in the parishes of Trelawny and Clarendon, in what is known as Cockpit Country, a region of many steep, rounded, limestone hills, shaped like an egg-carton. Here it grows on crags in moist woodland, between 600 and 900m in elevation.
Schoepfia multiflora is a species of flowering plant in the Schoepfiaceae family. It is a smallish tree, growing six to eight metres tall, exceptionally to ten metres. It is endemic to Jamaica, where it grows on rocky limestone in the woodlands of the central region.
The Caribbean bioregion is a biogeographic region that includes the islands of the Caribbean Sea and nearby Atlantic islands, which share a fauna, flora and mycobiota distinct from surrounding bioregions.
The wildlife of Sri Lanka includes its flora and fauna and their natural habitats. Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of biological endemism.
The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 21,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, and below the family level has a highly endemic angiosperm flora whose diversity was shaped by the effects of continental drift and climate change since the Cretaceous. Prominent features of the Australian flora are adaptations to aridity and fire which include scleromorphy and serotiny. These adaptations are common in species from the large and well-known families Proteaceae (Banksia), Myrtaceae, and Fabaceae.
The endemic flora of Trinidad and Tobago includes a total of 59 species of vascular plants belonging to 34 plant families. This is less than 3% of the total vascular plant flora of Trinidad and Tobago. Thirty-nine of these species are endemic to Trinidad, 12 are Tobagonian endemics, and six are present on both islands.
Hymenophyllum australe, commonly known as austral filmy fern, is a relatively large rupestral and epiphytic fern, indigenous to eastern Australia and New Zealand. It belongs to the unique Hymenophyllum genus, which are characterised by their thin membranous fronds that are seldom more than one cell thick, with the exception of regions over and around veins. Hymenophyllum australe is distinctive in that the fronds are typically thicker than other Hymenophyllum species, often being up to 2-3 cells thick.
Friedrich Leybold was a German-Chilean pharmacist and naturalist.
The flora of Madagascar consists of more than 12,000 species of plants, as well as a poorly known number of fungi and algae. Around 83% of Madagascar's vascular plants are found only on the island. These endemics include five plant families, 85% of the over 900 orchid species, around 200 species of palms, and such emblematic species as the traveller's tree, six species of baobab and the Madagascar periwinkle. The high degree of endemism is due to Madagascar's long isolation following its separation from the African and Indian landmasses in the Mesozoic, 150–160 and 84–91 million years ago, respectively. However, few plant lineages remain from the ancient Gondwanan flora; most extant plant groups immigrated via across-ocean dispersal well after continental break-up.
The Tubuai tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in French Polynesia. It covers the Austral Islands.
Pogogyne tenuiflora is an extinct species of annual plant in the mint family. Endemic to Guadalupe Island in the eastern Pacific, the Guadalupe mesa mint was only known from a single specimen collected by Edward Palmer in 1875. The species was described from Palmer's specimens by Asa Gray in 1876.