Abstract
St. Martin, in the Lesser Antilles, is half French: the southern half (36 km2) comprises Sint Maarten, part of the Netherlands Antilles and part of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands. Discovered by Columbus in 1493, much of the land was turned over to sugar plantations so that little 'original' vegetation survives. There is the familiar pantropical beach flora, mangrove, and dry scrub with the famous turk's cap cacti (Melocactus spp.), and little mountain vegetation of deciduous
seasonal forest. Slavery was abolished by Willem III in 1863 and following this the home country sent out government doctors. And so it was that Hendrik van
Rijgersma came to this biologically unpromising dot in the Caribbean.
of the Netherlands. Discovered by Columbus in 1493, much of the land was turned over to sugar plantations so that little 'original' vegetation survives. There is the familiar pantropical beach flora, mangrove, and dry scrub with the famous turk's cap cacti (Melocactus spp.), and little mountain vegetation of deciduous
seasonal forest. Slavery was abolished by Willem III in 1863 and following this the home country sent out government doctors. And so it was that Hendrik van
Rijgersma came to this biologically unpromising dot in the Caribbean.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 114-115 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | Journal of the History of Collections |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1989 |