THE MONTANE FLORA OF FIJI. 203 
PLANT ASSOCIATION IN THE VICINITY OF NADARIVATU. 
Nadarivatu is situated on the extreme edge of a precipitous escarpment, 
2000 feet in height. Immediately behind it, to the south, are the forest-clad 
ranges of the watershed, which eulminate in Mt. Victoria, the highest point 
in Fiji. То the north-west you look straight down the scarp on to an 
undulating plain, 2000 feet below, of reed-covered, treeless country, which 
stretches to the sea, about 15 miles distant by road to Tavua, at the mouth of 
the Tavua river. 
The forest formations about Nadarivatu may be well classified according to 
Copeland's * arrangement for the same type in the Philippines, viz. :— 
The High Forest. Clothing the northern and north-western mountain 
slopes and ridges, and the valleys on the Nadarivatu side. 
The Rain Forest. Characteristic of the south-eastern region and mountain 
slopes. 
The Moss Forest. Of stunted trees, swathed in moss. Limited to the 
summit-ridge of Mt. Victoria, 4000 feet, and a point on the Nadarivatu 
ridge at 3600 feet. 
Hien Forest. 
Forest-trees.—The Fijian forest, of an average height of 80-100 feet, seen 
from above, forms one level of dark green foliage, broken at the time of my 
visit by even washes of red, from the great abundance of the splendid 
Vuga (Metrosideros villosa) which, generally beginning life as an epiphyte, 
eventually grows into one of the finest forest trees. It is as celebrated in 
the lore of Fiji as the Rata (M. robusta, A. Cunn.) is in New Zealand, and 
holds the same place in the affection of the inhabitants. The Vuga resolves 
itself into a sheet of bloom, which the flat capitate crown, so characteristic 
of tropical trees, accentuates. The flowers are often yellow, when the effect 
is Just as fine. 
In contrast to the brilliant Vuga, the dense dark green heads of the Dakuas 
(Agathis vitiensis) are conspicuous from their size and number, lightened by 
the fern-like shining foliage of that glory of the Fijian Forest, the Dakua 
Salu Salu (Podocarpus vitiensis). None of the allied New Zealand species 
approach these two trees in beauty of outline. The Kauri (Agathis australis, 
Salisb.) with smaller leaves, lighter green in colour and showing the elongating 
branches of more temperate latitudes, lacks the monumental effect, so striking 
in the closely related Dakua, while the Salu Salu in its splendid habit and 
exquisite symmetry of foliage excels any conifers so far known. The Kau Solo 
(Podocarpus imbricata) with its feathery foliage of light glaucous green and 
* Copeland, E. B., “ Тһе Comparative Ecology of San Ramon Polypodiaceæ,” Philipp. 
Journ, Sci., Bot. ii, (1907) pp. 1-73. 
