FLORA OF THE VITIAN ISLANDS. xii 
quantity; the high ridge of mountains which form, as it were, the backbone of the two 
largest islands, intercepting many showers, and sending down perpetual streams to fertilize 
the low lands of the coast. The lee side would, therefore, more readily recommend itself to 
the white settler, as it requires hardly any clearing, and would be immediately available for 
cattle-breeding, sheep runs, and cotton-growing. 
The general physiognomy of the flora is decidedly tropical; Tree-ferns, branching 
Grasses, several kinds of Palms, Scitamineous Plants, epiphytical Orchids, Ferns, and Pepper- 
worts, fully accounting for this fact. Whole districts, however, possess a strictly South 
Australian fook, owing to the presence of phyllodineous Acacias (4. laurifolia, Willd., 
and Æ. Richi, A. Gray), Casuarinas, Geifonoplesium, and Metrosideros with either scarlet 
or yellow blossoms, as well as to the peculiar habit of various other species of Myrtacee and — 
Epacridee. 
Mangroves are restricted to but few parts of the larger islands, and here as else- 
where principally consist of plants with leathery glossy foliage. The leading trees among 
them are Rhizophora mucronata, Bruguiera Rheedei, Heritiera littoralis, Lumnitzera 
coccinea, and Eecæcaria Agallocha. Kitlitz says of the vegetation of the Pacific 
Islands, that Mangroves are never accompanied by creepers or twiners, which, with the excep- 
tion of Entada scandens, is a rule that will apply to Viti. In places where the tide has little 
play, whole districts are covered with Acrostichum aureum, which, however, does not attain 
that luxuriant development it does in countries nearer the line. 
The coast-line of most of the islands just above high-water mark is enriched by a 
dense, more or less broken, belt of Cocoa-nut Palms. White beaches, formed of decom- 
posed corals, may be traced for miles; whilst good soil in many instances extends quite to 
the water’s edge, and trees, not numbering strictly amongst the coast plants, overhang 
the sea. But there is a varied littoral vegetation, though but few of its component 
parts are endemic to Viti, or even to the South Sea Islands. The leading trees are Ca/o- 
Phyllum Inophyllum, Thespesia populnea, Pongamia glabra, Acacia laurifolia, Eugenia 
Richii, Barringtonia speciosa, Terminalia littoralis, Gyrocarpus Jacquini, Guettarda speciosa, 
Cerbera lactaria, Cordia subcordata, Hernandia peltata, and Pandanus verus. The leading 
shrubs, several of them occasionally becoming arborescent, are Hibiscus tiliaceus, H. tri- 
cuspis, Ximenia elliptica, Colubrina Asiatica, Tephrosia piscatoria, Sophora tomentosa, 
Scevola Kenigii, S. sericea, S. floribunda, Symplocos spicata, Tournefortia argentea, Clero- 
dendron inerme, Vitex trifolia, Wikstremia fetida, and Drymispermum Burnettianum. 
Creepers and twiners are numerous, the principal ones being Smythea Pacifica, Cardio- 
spermum Halicacabum, Canavalia obtusifolia, Vigna lutea, Dalbergia monosperma, Derris 
uliginosa, Cæsalpinia Bonducella, C. Bonduc, Barringtonia racemosa, Pharbitis insularis, 
Ipomea Pes-capre, and T. denticulata. Smaller herbs are chiefly represented by the 
following types :—Zriumfetta procumbens, Desmodium umbellatum, Tacca pinnatifida, 1 
littoralis, Wollastonia strigulosa, Euphorbia Atoto, and Orinum Asiaticum. 
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