INSULAR FLORAS. 



PART I. 



SINCE the publication of the botany of the voyage of 

 H.M.S. Challenger, in 1885, there has been no general 

 review of the subsequent botanical literature relating to 

 insular floras. It is true that recent discoveries have not 

 added materially to our knowledge of the composition and 

 probable origin of the vegetation of remote islands or groups 

 of islands ; yet, much has been accomplished in working out 

 the details of their floras, both in description and illustra- 

 tion, as well as in observation of the means of dispersal of 

 plants. A condensed summary of what has been done in 

 this branch of botany is perhaps the most useful way of 

 treating the subject in the limited space that can be devoted 

 to it here. Unimportant contributions must necessarily be 

 left out of consideration. 



Beginning with Eastern Polynesia, there is now a com- 

 plete and critically elaborated account of the flora of the 

 Sandwich Islands, in English, 1 though unfortunately, in 

 consequence of the untimely death of the author, the part 

 dealing with the relationships of the flora consists of mere 

 fragmentary notes and observations. Nevertheless, the 

 author having lived twenty years in the islands, and having 

 during that period spent much of his time in the elucidation 

 of the flora, these notes merit our serious attention. In all 

 999 species of vascular plants are described, and these are 

 assigned to 365 genera, but it is estimated that 115 species 

 have been introduced since ^the discovery of the islands, and 

 that some twenty-four others were previously introduced 

 by the natives. The latter are all of economic value, and, 

 although now spread all over Polynesia, have probably 

 spread with the migrations of the inhabitants from their 

 original homes, largely from the Malay Archipelago. 



1 Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, W. Hillebrand, 1888, Svo, xcvi. and 

 673 pages, with 4 maps. 



