New plant records for Bonaire and the Dutch Caribbean islands

Abstract:

Although the flora of Bonaire has been well studied three previously undocumented species have been found for Bonaire. Two of these three species are fern species and are new for the six islands of the Dutch Caribbean. The third species (Capparis linearis) occurs also on Curaçao and Aruba and is also a rare species on those islands. Data on the distribution of twelve rare species (eleven are previously unreported rare species for the Washington-Slagbaai National Park (WSNP) are also presented. A number of publications indicate the deleterious effects of introduced goats, donkeys and pigs on the vegetation and flora of islands. These animals are also found in the WSNP. The lack of saplings and the (very) small numbers of seedlings of only a few rare tree species found in the present study are ascribed to the deleterious effects of goats, donkeys and pigs.