JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUMVoi.UME 63 JtULY 1982 Nt M1IBER 3 MORE ADDITIONS TO THE FLORA OF JAMAICA GEORGE R. PROCTOR THE PUBLICATION of C. D. Adams's Flowering Plants of Jamaica in 1972was an important milestone in the history of Jamaican botany. Among itsuseful contributions to knowledge was the enumeration and description ofsome 2888 species of flowering plants either indigenous to Jamaica or con-sidered to be fully naturalized. It was stated in the Introduction (p. 22) that784 (27%) of these "are in the state of our present knowledge thought to beendemic to the island." It was further stated (p. 24) that "some additionsto the flora are inevitable in the future," but that "the main phase of ex-ploration is virtually closed." While this may be generally true (and unu-sually so for a tropical country). the local distribution of native plants is soremarkably complex. and often so narrowly localized, that until virtuallyevery wooded hilltop, cliff-face, mossy woodland, boggy wetland, dry thorn-scrub, or other special habitat has been thoroughly examined at different sea-sons of the year, our knowledge of the Jamaican flora will be incomplete.Further, anyone who makes really thorough collections in any more or lessundisturbed or uncollected habitat, particularly at favorable seasons (whichmay not occur every year!), is likely to turn up new records and even speciesnew to science. In this context, we still do not have a complete inventoryof the Jamaican vegetation, and we do not yet have adequate knowledge ofthe local distribution of many individual species. It is surprising how manyspecies are recorded on the basis of but one collection. For these reasons Ihave continued to investigate new localities, to revisit old ones, and to collectfresh material for the Institute of Jamaica Herbarium. The present publicationarises from this work and summarizes a portion of the new information thathas accumulated since 1972; it also includes a few overlooked or unpublishedolder records. It can be considered an informal supplement to Adams's vol-ume. A few of the new species proposed herein were included without names(for example, as "sp. A" or "sp. B") under various genera in Flowering� President and Fellows of Harvard College. 1982.Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 63: 199-315. July, 1982.
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