INTRODUCTION TO THE REPORTS ON INSULAR FLORAS. 7 



LISTS OF THE PLANTS AND ANALYSES OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE 

 FLOEAS OF VAPJOUS ISLANDS NOT INCLUDED IN THE EEPORTS. 



L— VEGETATION CONTAINING A LARGE ENDEMIC ELEMENT, INCLUDING 



DISTINCT GENERIC TYPES. 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 1 



" Of the flowering plants, the most remarkable family is the Lobeliacese, represented by sis genera, 

 five peculiar to the Hawaiian Islands, and thirty-five species, all endemic. Many of these, indeed 

 almost all, are arborescent, and some of great interest. Our [the American] explorations added ten 

 new species and one very remarkable genus (Brighamia) to this family. The Composite hold an 

 important place, as will be seen by the accompanying table, and of these the new genus Hespcromannia 

 and four new species were collected for the first time. 



" Remy endeavoured to divide the island flora into five zones, but with indifferent success ; three 

 are tolerably distinct, — the alluvial plains, the valleys, and the mountain region. The alluvial plains 

 are on the shores, where most of the introduced plants are found. The valleys, which have generally 

 been long the residence of man, and have been cultivated and cleared, are more tropical, and because better 

 watered than the plains, and of richer soil than the mountains, are filled with a much more luxu- 

 riant vegetation ; in this region are found most of the introduced fruits. The third, or mountain 

 region, extends from the grass lands which usually occupy the lower slopes of the mountains as 

 high as eight hundred or a thousand feet, almost to the limit of vegetation, and this point is 

 determined by the aspect ; on the windward side of Mauna Kea it is at a height of nearly twelve 

 thousand feet, while on the lee of Mauna Loa it is no higher than eight thousand. There is no 

 truly alpine zone ; the trees and shrubs of the lower regions become stunted, and finally disappear, 

 and the upper regions are wholly destitute of vegetable life. Dodoncva, Sophora, Ostcomeles, Vac- 

 cinium, Gouania orbicularis, are found near the upper limits. The timber of the forest is largely 

 Jlctrosidcros, and Acacia koa, while the Aleurites is abundant. It is in the dense woods of the lower' 

 slopes (three thousand to four thousand feet) that the tree-ferns, and lower still the Lobeliaceas, the 

 Labiate, and the Cordylinc are found. 



" The regions yielding the richest harvest of species lie between fifteen hundred and six thousand 

 feet above the sea. Drosera longi folia is found at an elevation of eight thousand feet, many thousand 

 miles from its nearest known habitat. There are but few showy flowers, and still fewer fragrant 

 ones, in the Hawaiian flora. The genera Hibiscus, Gardenia, Bryonia, Brigliamia, Mctrosideros, 

 Eugenia, Sccevola, Cyrtandra, Pltyllostcgia, with a few Composite, Convolvulacea?, and Leguminosa?, 

 comprise nearly all the showy or beautiful flowers. In the colouring, white or greenish-white is 

 predominant, and yellow and pink follow at a respectful distance. There are very few blue flowers. 

 Strongylodon hicidum is a rich crimson, and some other leguminous plants are violet, but the various 

 and brilliant colouring of the Californian plants is wholly absent. 



1 An analysis of H. Mann's Enumeration of the Plants, by W. T. Brigham, extracted from the Proceedings 

 of the Boston Society of Natural History, xii., 1868. This is reproduced without the modifications necessary to 

 brin" it in harmony with Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum ; but the alterations would be unimportant. 

 See p. 11, and also p. 19, for the distribution and affinities of the arboreous Compositse. 



