Updated List of Endemic Seed Plant Species found on San Salvador Island, The Bahamas, with a Perspective on Historical and Current Significance

Lee B. Kass; Thomas P. Snyder; Karen A. Snyder

Updated List of Endemic Seed Plant Species found on San Salvador Island, The Bahamas, with a Perspective on Historical and Current Significance

Lee B. Kass^1,2,*, Thomas P. Snyder³, and Karen A. Snyder³

¹L.H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, and Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. ²Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA. ³Michigan Technological University, Biological Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA. *Corresponding author.

Caribbean Naturalist, Special Issue No. 2 (2018)

Abstract
For the island of San Salvador in the Bahama Archipelago, we present an updated list of seed plants that are endemic to the Bahamas, applying currently accepted names. We also include species previously reported as Bahamian endemics that are no longer considered endemic due to distribution outside of the Bahamas. Comparison of recently published lists of endemic seed plants for the Bahamas with neglected earlier published studies and herbarium specimens extends the range of 7 taxa to San Salvador, increasing the number of Bahamian endemics on the island to 22 from the previously reported number of 15. We identify several Bahamian endemics previously reported to have a distribution including San Salvador whose presence on the island cannot be sufficiently documented. Our results amend the previously published list of Bahamian endemics in light of historical and current significance of the island’s flora.

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