Anegada Island: Vegetation and Flora

D'Arcy, W

Anegada is a low, flat limestone island isolated from other land masses by prevailing wind direction and ocean currents, and although several nearby mountainous Virgin Islands are in view on the horizon, the 13 mile nearest distance is magnified insofar as possibilities for interchange of biota is concerned. The island is situated at the northeast tangent of the Antillean arc. It is about ten miles long and two miles wide with some large salt ponds, and it is populated by a cluster of West Indian families at The Settlement and, scattered around the island, a few recently arrived families from abroad (see map, Fig. 1.). In spite of the present small population, disturbance of the vegetation is of long standing and for much of the island, of a high order. The introduction of modern construction equipment in the past three years is already having an effect on the landscape. While the flora is mainly derived from that of dry sections of Puerto Rico and the vegetation structure is much like that of Barbuda and Anguilla, there are interesting differences. The island has drawn the attention of several workers in the past, and recently I published an account with a brief checklist of the flora and summary of previous work (D'Arcy 1971). New field work has increased knowledge about the island and this is presented here: an annotated checklist of the flora and a description of the vegetation. An assessment is made of the effects of man on the flora and landscape. General information on the island is to be found in papers by Schomburgk (1832), Britton (1916) and Beard (1942). Britton & Wilson (1923, 1925) gave a floristic account based on the collections of N. L. Britton and W. C. Fishlock, then Curator of the Botanical Station, Road Town, and Beard in his account listed important plants and discussed the vegetation. A recent study of the birds was published by LaBastille and Richmond (1973).