=276. Concept.= Since its first use by DeCandolle, the term endemic has been employed quite consistently by phytogeographers with the meaning of “peculiar to a certain region.” Some confusion, however, has arisen from the fact that a few authors have made it more or less synonymous with indigenous and autochthonous, while others have regarded it as an antonym of exotic. In its proper sense, endemic refers to distribution, and not to origin. Its exact opposite will be found then in Fenzl’s term polydemic, dwelling in several regions. Indigenous (autochthonous) and exotic, on the contrary, denote origin, and are antonyms, indigenous signifying native, and exotic foreign. As Drude has shown, endemic plants may be either indigenous, as in the case of those species that have never moved out of the original habitat, or exotic, as in the much rarer instances where a polydemic species has disappeared from its original home and from all regions into which it has migrated except one. It is understood that not all indigenous or exotic species are endemic. The proportion of endemic to polydemic species is a variable and somewhat artificial one, depending upon the size of the divisions employed. =277. Causes.= The primary causes of endemism are two, lack of migration and presence of barriers. Since distributive agents are practically universal, lack of migration corresponds essentially to immobility, a fact which decreases the difficulty of ascertaining the immediate causes of endemism in any particular species. Either immobility or a barrier may produce endemism; extremely immobile plants, for example, liliaceous species propagating almost wholly by underground parts, are as a rule endemic, while alpine plants and those of oceanic islands are endemic in the highest degree, regardless of their mobility. When the two conditions act concomitantly upon a species, endemism is almost inevitable. It can not be supposed, however, that immobility or natural barriers alone, or the concomitance of the two, must invariably give rise to endemic species; the most immobile plant may be carried into another region by unusual or accidental agencies, or the most formidable barrier to migration may be overcome by the intensity of an agent or through the action of man. Endemism is also brought about by the modification of species; new or nascent species are as a rule endemic. Whether they will remain endemic or not will depend upon the perfection of their contrivances for dissemination and upon the presence of barriers to migration or ecesis. Finally, as Drude was the first to point out, the disappearance of a polydemic species in all regions but one, owing to the struggle for existence or to changed physical conditions, will result in endemism.