A Geographical Checklist of the Micronesian Monocotyledonae F. R. FosBERG, MARIE-HELENE SACHET and RoYCE OLIVER Botany Department, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560
Abstract. The monocotyledonous plants known to us as occurring or reported to have occurred in Micronesia are listed systematically by families and alphabetically under the families. They belong to 272 genera (in a broad sense) . Of the 677 species and varieties included, 367 are considered indigenous, 308 exotic (indicated by an asterisk) . Of the indigenous ones, I66 are endemic in Micronesia, so far as we know. The other 204 extend to other Indo-Pacific islands or countries bordering the Indo-Pacific region . The strand and coastal plants are mostly widespread, some are pantropical. Of the endemics, 135 are restricted to the Caroline Islands , I9 to the Marianas, II to both groups, and one to Wake and the northern Marshalls. There are no endemics , (with the possible exception of the poorly known Crinum bakeri) in the central and southern Marshalls, the Gilberts, or the other isolated islands . The affinities of the species are mostly Indo-Malaysian and New Guinean-Melanesian, a few are Australian. For each species and smaller taxon the known distribution by islands is given, as well as basionyms, synonyms, misapplications or misidentifications that have appeared in the Micronesian literature known to us .
Introduction The third and last part of our Geographical Checklist of Micronesian Vascular Plants includes all taxa of Monocotyledonae known to us from Micronesia. Earlier parts covered the dicotyledons, and pteridophytes and gymnosperms (Micronesica 15: 41-295, 1979; 18: 23-82, 1982). The geographical limits of Micronesia as accepted here are shown in Fig. 1. Excluded are the Bonin and Volcano Islands, as explained in the introduction to the dicotyledon section, while several isolated islands and the Gilbert Group are covered. We have chosen not to use the name Kiribati, coined for the newly independent Gilbertese republic, because its political limits extend to various non-Micronesian central Pacific Islands. The history, nature and scope of the Micronesian flora and checklist projects are outlined adequately in the introduction to the first part of this checklist (dicotyledons) . The remarks on our taxonomic viewpoints in the second part apply also to our approach to the monocot groups. Along this line, we feel that the genera of grasses are divided too finely, but we have accepted many of them because an intelligent rearrangement is beyond our present knowledge. In the Cyperaceae we have maintained a broad generic concept so that the genera are mostly readily recognized. It should be pointed out that we accept a much broader concept of certain families, especially the Liliaceae, than is commonly used. Hence the user will not find separate listings for Agavaceae, Hypoxidaceae or Amaryllidaceae, nor is the family Flagellariaceae subdivided as seen in recent works. The current classification of the Orchidaceae is incredibly complex, and in some parts seemingly unnatural. We have little choice but to accept most of the genera described or