OCEANIC DISPERSAL OF PLANTS. 305 



Polynesia eastward of the Fij is, where there is an endemic species (Sapindus vitiensis, 

 Seem.), except in the Sandwicli Islands, where there is also an endemic species (Sapindus 

 oahuensis, Hildebr.), which is remarkable for its simple leaves. If the Easter Island and 

 Marquesas Sapindus be really Sapindus saponaria, it is possible that it was carried thither 

 by oceanic currents. Bat there are two or three Asiatic species so closely allied to Sapin- 

 dus saponaria that the identity of the insular one cannot be satisfactorily settled in the 

 absence of perfect specimens. The fruit of these species is fleshy and indehiscent ; and 

 the seed has a very dense, hard testa, capable of protecting the embryo from water for a 

 long period. It is exalbuminous, and the embryo has large fleshy cotyledons. 



ANACARDIACE^E. 

 Anacardium occidentale, Linn. 



Anacardium occidentale, Linn. ; Griseb., FL Brit. W. Ind., p. 177. 



This is not among the stranded fruits in the Kew Museum, but it is one of those 

 enumerated by Linnaeus (Amoen. Acad., viii. p. 3) as being cast ashore on the coast of 

 Norway with the seed still in a living condition. Whether the seed-vessel alone, or 

 attached to its enormous fleshy peduncle, was washed up, we are not informed. It is a 

 common Tropical American tree, and is now naturalised in most other hot countries. 



EUPHORBIACEJ3. 



Aleurites moluccana, Willd. 



This is one of the seeds enumerated by Chamisso as being cast upon the coast of Java 

 in a germinatino- condition. The large seed contains a considerable quantity of albumen, 

 but the embryo is protected by a very dense, woody testa. 



Ricinus communis, Linn. 



Ricinus communis, Linn. ; Darwin, Journal of Researches, ed. 1884, p. 455. 



Darwin mentions this, on the authority of Mr A. S. Keating, as one of the seeds cast 

 ashore in the Keeling Islands ; but it is not one of which he obtained specimens. It is 

 one of the few plants observed by Dr Copeland in South Trinidad, where, like Canavalia 

 obtusifolia, it may possibly have been carried by the waves. It is one of a number of 

 plants, of which a list is given at p. 282, which Professor Martins succeeded in raising from 

 seed that had been floating ninety-three days on the surface of the sea. Like Alwrites, 

 it has albuminous seeds, and they are furnished with a very dense, crustaceous testa. 



C 39 



(BOT. CHALL. ESP. PART III. 18S5.) 



