Besides the trees the number of plants is exceedingly limited and
consists of insignificant weeds. In my collection, which includes,
I believe, nearly the perfect Flora, there are twenty species
without reckoning a moss, lichen, and fungus. To this number two
trees must be added; one of which was not in flower, and the other
I only heard of. The latter is a solitary tree of its kind, and
grows near the beach, where, without doubt, the one seed was thrown
up by the waves. A Guilandina also grows on only one of the islets.
I do not include in the above list the sugar-cane, banana, some
other vegetables, fruit-trees, and imported grasses. As the islands
consist entirely of coral, and at one time must have existed as
mere water-washed reefs, all their terrestrial productions must
have been transported here by the waves of the sea. In accordance
with this, the Florula has quite the character of a refuge for the
destitute: Professor Henslow informs me that of the twenty species
nineteen belong to different genera, and these again to no less
than sixteen families! (20/1. These plants are described in the
"Annals of Natural History" volume 1 1838 page 337.)
In Holman's "Travels" an account is given, on the authority of Mr.
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