315 



island, are two shrubby Eubiaceous species, and another 

 kind of shrub ; Heliotropium prostratum^ Portulacca oleracea^ 

 a Lepidium {acre ?) and a Buchnera ? 



A thin vegetation, through which the ground is everywhere 

 seen, prevails here, consisting of a few shrubs with entire- 

 margined, simple, mostly succulent leaves and colourless 

 flowers; these form a kind of thin brushwood, above whicl 

 the Cocoa Tree raises itself, while the Pandanus is conspicuous 

 by its singular form, entwined with the leafless, reddish stems 

 of the Cassytha. 



1 



THE SANDWICH ISLES.— THE JOHNSTONE ISLANDS. 



The collections of plants which Archibald Menzies, th 

 learned companion of Vancouver, formed in his different 

 expeditions to the heights of O-Waihi and Mauwi, are still, 

 with many other treasures^ enshrined in the herbarium of 

 Sir Joseph Banks; and although this venerable Nestor of 

 naturalists throws open his Gazophylacium to all the learned 

 with the most unconstrained liberality, yet no one has at 

 present undertaken to make us acquainted with the alpine 

 Flora of O-Waihi. 



The vegetation of O-Waihi has nothing in common with 

 the adjoining continent, the coast of California. The leafless 

 lorm of the Acacias, the genera Metrosideros, Pandanus, 

 ^antalum, Almrites, Draccena, Amomum, Curcuma, and Tacca, 

 impress on it the character of their natural affinities. The 

 famiUes of the Rubiacece, Apocynea, and Vrticea prevail | of 

 t«e latter many wild species are used for making various 

 ^mds of bark-cloth*; and some arborescent m\Wy Ldbeliacm 

 are also found. The immediate margin of the island 

 produces only a few kinds of grass and herbs. In the 

 interior, the Flora is rich ; but it will bear no comparison 

 with the luxuriant variety of Brazilian nature. Only low 



• The Paper-Mulberri/ {Droussonetia papyrifera) is cultivated in the Sandwich 

 ^"ands, as in most of tjiose of the South Seas, for the manufacture of rf*tb. 

 ut it is a mistalie to suppose th^t it is the only plant used for that purpose. 



