FLORA OF THE VITIAN ISLANDS. XV 
Among the principal plants found in swamps and marshes must be enumerated the 
following :— Z/atine ambigua, Hibiscus diversifolius, Limnanthemum Kleinianum, Adenosma 
triflora, Ceratophyllum demersum, Bagus Vitiensis, Typha angustifolia, Pandanus caricosus, 
Colocasia antiquorum, Alocasia Indica, Cyrtosperma edulis, Lemna paucicostata and L. 
melanorrhiza, Lepironia mucronata, Hypolytrum latifolium, Eleocharis articulata, Mariscus 
flavus, Coiæ Lachryma, and Equisetum debile. Only one of these (Sagus Vitiensis) attains 
the dimensions of a tree, and all the others are herbaceous, with the exception of Hibiscus 
. diversifolius. 
In the windward islands, Lakeba and its dependencies, the weeping Ironwood ( Casza- 
rina equisetifolia, Forst.), intermingled with Screwpines (Pandanus verus, Rumph., and 
Dodonea viscosa), abounds, and considerable tracts of country are covered with the brake 
(Pteris esculenta, Forst.) and other hard-leaved Ferns: they prefer an open country, and have 
taken possession where little else will grow. Wherever these forms of vegetation occur 
on the weather side of the group, the soil may be expected to be rather poor. It would, 
however, be erroneous to apply the same rule to the leeward side, where they are also 
tolerably abundant, not because the soil is too poor to support a dense herbaceous or woody 
vegetation, but because the air is destitute of that excessive moisture, and the country 
less visited by those fertilizing showers of rain, which promote the luxuriant growth on the 
weather side. 
There is little change in the nature of the vegetation until one reaches about 2000 feet 
elevation, where the plants peculiar to the coast region are replaced by mountain forms. 
Hollies, Myrtaceous, Melastomaceous, and Laurinaceous trees, Epacridaceous and Vacci- 
niaceous bushes, forming the bulk ; scarlet Orchids, Astelias, delicate Ferns, Mosses, and 
Lichens, crowding their branches. None of the explored peaks have as yet disclosed any 
genuine alpine vegetation,— perennial herbs forming caespitose masses and prostrate shrubs, 
generally bearing large and gay-coloured flowers. Should it ever be met with, there would, 
indeed, be a rich botanical harvest. 
The weeds of a country are, according to my opinion,* never indigenous productions 
of the soil on which they grow, but they have always been translated, though the distance 
whence they have come may be very limited. Nor are all countries indiscriminately, having 
a climate similar to that in which weeds gain a footing, been the sources of them. ‘Thus, 
whilst European species spread with rapidity over the southern parts of North America and 
Australasia, North American and Australasian do not show any great disposition to become 
not. Mr. Grindon states that his essay was written before the appearance of my remarks in the ‘Gardeners’ 
Chronicle ; I first published on the subject in the ‘Journal of Botany,’ June 1, 1868; but, I believe, 
that neither of us can lay much claim to originality, for the subject in its general outline has been 
already dealt with by Humboldt in his ‘Ansichten der Natur.’ 
* ‘Journal of Botany, 1867, p. 195; and ‘ Dottings on the ‘Roadside in Panama, Nicaragua, and 
Mosquito ; London, 1869, p. 117. 
