204 MISS Г. S. GIBBS: А CONTRIBUTION TO 
smaller heads, and the delicate Casuarina nodiflora can also be picked out 
from the even mass of vegetation. Of other High Forest trees, not so 
conspicuous, may be mentioned Elæocarpus Kambi, Eugenia effusa, Parasponia 
Andersonii, Gironniera celtidifolia, Ficus Harveyi, Ficus obliqua, peculiarly 
striking from its fine sage-green foliage, spreading crown and white stems 
and roots, also happy as an epiphyte, Maoutia australis, Rhus simarubafolia, 
and the stinging Salato (Laportea Harveyi, Seem.) with its large flaccid 
leaves. Podocarpus elata occurs scattered as а slender tree, and P. neriifolia 
outlines the rivers on both banks, the spreading branches meeting over the 
surface of the water. 
Undergrowth.—Entering the forest, which in the spring is easy to penetrate 
in every direction and quite dry, even the streams being low, I was surprised 
at the great variety of the carpeting undergrowth and its herbaceous 
character, as most writers emphasize the prevalence of ferns in this connection 
in tropical forests. There was also none of the mysterious darkness so often 
dwelt upon, but an even distribution of light, no doubt due to the great 
height of the trees, with their unbranched trunks and compact crowns. 
Where not too damp, the charming little Ophéorrhiza peploides and the 
more spreading and flaccid О. lava, the slightly fleshy Pellionia jilicoides, 
and Centotheca lappacea creeping on the ground, would abound. The long 
green spikes of Habenaria tradescantifolia, varied by the shorter white 
ones of Adenostylis stricta, and the yellow flowers and large calanthe-like 
leaves of Chrysoglossum Gibbsie were general. Where the growth was 
not so thick, the wax-like white flowers and exquisite velvety green leaves of 
Odontochilus longiflorus and the still more striking leaves of Anwetochilus 
vitiensis, with their iridescent metallic sheen, would occur, with the 
Davallia-like Asplenium stenolobum, the fronds of which are weighted down 
by young plantlets bearing roots 4 or 5 em. long, so abundant is its vegetative 
proliferation. Trichomanes rigidum, Т. maximum, and Schizwa dichotoma 
were common ferns. Of larger plants, Ælatostema fruticosum and several 
Pipers were very abundant. 
Piper melanostachyum, aptly named by M. de Candolle, of neat spreading 
habit, with small leaves, contrasted with the straggling P. oxycarpum, a 
very hairy plant, with ong pendent racemes and red fruit. P. Me Gillivrayi 
var. fascicularis and P. érectispicum were quite general. The magnificent 
Р. polystachyum, З m. in height, with immense roundish leaves and erect 
tassels of white flowers, favoured damper places by streams, associated 
with the handsome Pellionia vitiensis and Ælatostema elutostemoides, both 
always massed, with recurved shoots, simulating huge fronds from the size 
and dorsiventral position of the leaves, which are thus admirably adapted to 
the subdued light of the forest. The exquisite Selaginella gracilis was also 
abundant in such situations, growing in erect clumps of single fronds, over a 
metre high, reflexed at the apex. By the streams, carpeting stones, and on 
