REPORT ON THE BOTANY OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN MOLUCCAS. 203 



will probably never be proved, for it has so long been widely spread, both wild and culti- 

 vated, and has names in so many languages, that those who have entered most fully into 

 the subject have been unable to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. Do Candolle l states he 

 formerly believed it to have spread from Western America, but with fuller data and more 

 experience in such questions, he inclines to the opinion that its original home is the Indian 

 Archipelago ; but as the thirty other species belonging to the genus are restricted to 

 Tropical America, the first opinion seems the sounder. Jouan, loc. cit., p. 128, says that 

 it is not very widely spread in the Marquesas, though there are always groups of it near 

 the houses of the natives. He further observes that its present wide range is not so much 

 owing to the action of oceanic currents as is generally supposed, because, unless buried in or 

 fixed to the soil, the seed perishes. Mann places it in the category of plants introduced 

 into the Sandwich Islands by the aborigines. Neither this nor any other palm inhabits 

 the Galapagos. 



Nipa fruticans, Wurmb. 



Nipa fruticam, "Wurmb. ; Miq., FL Ind. Bat., iii. p. 150 ; F. Muell., Syst. Census Austr. PI., p. 120 ; 

 "Wallace, Malay Archipelago, ii. p. 200. 



Arrou. — This is inserted on the authority of Wallace. It is exceedingly common on 

 the sea-shores of Tropical Asia, from the mouths of the Ganges and the Philippines to New 

 Guinea and North-eastern Australia ; it also occurs in the Solomon Islands. 



Orania aruensis, Beccari. (Plate LXV. I.) 



Omnia aruensis, Beccari, Malesia, i. p. 76. 



Arrou. — Collected by Dr Beccari in the island of Wokan. For further particulars of 

 this palm consult the list of stranded seeds from the Arrou Islands in the Appendix. 



PAND ANILE. 



Pandanus spp. 



Pandanus, spp. ; "Wallace, Malay Archipelago, ii. p. 175. 



Arrou. There are fruits of two or three species of Pandanus in the collection. The 



genus comprises at least fifty species, spread over Tropical Asia, Africa, Australia, and 

 Polynesia, but specially numerous in the Archipelago and the Mascarene Islands, where, in 

 certain districts, they form a very conspicuous feature in the vegetation. 



AROIDE.E. 

 Imperfect specimens of several members of this Order were collected in the South- 

 eastern Moluccas, among them a variety of Pothos scandens, or an allied species, and a 



1 Origine des Plantes cultivecs, p. 350. 



