170 FLORA VITIENSIS. 
1. T. (Mallota) argentea, Linn. fil. Suppl. 133; fruticosa, erecta, tota dense sericeo-tomen- 
tosa; foliis ad apices ramorum confertis ovalibus obovatisve sessilibus integerrimis; cyma subpanicu- 
lata, spicis confertis abbreviatis ; corolla breviter tubulosa, lobis rotundatis ; stigmate subsessili 2-fido ; 
baccis ovatis glabris.—Common on the seabeach of nearly all the Viti Islands (Seemann! n. 335). 
Also collected in the Society Islands (Banks and Solander!), Otakoo-taea (Nelson!), Savage Island 
(Capt. Cook !), Chesterfield group (Mus. Brit.), and Tongan Islands (Forster!). Diffused over trc- 
pical New Holland, the Moluccas, East Indies, and Mauritius. 
On»o LXV. CONVOLVULACE. 
This Order is represented in tropical Polynesia by ten genera, including, besides those described 
below, Jaequemontia, Convolvulus, Calystegia, Bonamia, and Evolvulus. We have of Jaequemoniia one 
species, viz. J. Sandwichensis, A. Gray (Convolvulus ovalifolius, Hook. et Arn. Bot. Beech. non Vahl; 
Jpomoa ovalifolia, Chois. pro parte), from the Hawaiian Islands (Menzies! Nelson!); of Convolvulus one 
species, viz. C. parviflorus, Vahl, Symb. vol. iii. p. 29 (C. corymbosus, Forst. Prodr. n. 80), from New Cale- 
donia and the Isle of Pines (W. Anderson! MGillivray !); of Calystegia three Norfolk Island species, 
viz. C. affinis, Endl., C. Soldanella, R. Brown, and C. marginata, R. Brown; of Bonamia one species, viz. 
B. Menziesii, A. Gray, from the Sandwich Islands (Menzies! in Mus. Brit.); and of Evolvulus one species, 
viz. E. linifolius, Linn. (E. heterophyllus, Labill. Sert. Austr. Caled. t. 29), from New Caledonia (....). 
I have succeeded in identifying all Forster's and Solander’s Convolvulacee, with the exception of Con- 
volvulus grandiflorus, Forst. Prodr. n. 76, from Tana, and Zpomea carnea, Forst. Prodr. n. 83, from the 
Society Islands. The former, according to Choisy, is identical with Calonyction speciosum ; the latter may 
be either Ipomea denticulata or I. campanulata. But at the British Museum there are no authentic spe- ` 
cimens, figures, or description of these two, and Forster's brief diagnoses are insufficient for identification. 
I. Batatas, Rumph. Amb. vol. v. p. 367; Chois. in DC. Prodr. vol. ix. p. 337. Sepala 5. 
Corolla campanulata. Stamina inclusa. Stylusl. Stigma capitatum, 2-lobum. Ovarium 4-locu- 
lare aut abortu 3-2-loculare. Capsula dehiscens.—Herbe aut suffrutices.— Bomóycospermum, Presl, 
Rel. Hænk. 
Besides the following two species there is in tropical Polynesia B. pentaphylla, Chois., collected in the | 
. Hawaiian Islands (Nelson !). 
l. B. edulis, Chois. Convol. Or. p. 53; DC. Prodr. vol. ix. p. 338; radice tuberosa; caule 
repente raro volubili; foliis variis szepius angulatis etiam lobatis 2—6 pollices longis acutis cordatis 
petiolatis; pedunculis petiolum zequantibus aut superantibus 3—4-fidis; sepalis acuminato-mucro- 
natis raro subtruncatis exterioribus paulo brevioribus ; corolla campanulata (?) purpurea.— Batatas, 
Rumph. Amb. vol. v. p. 967. t. 130. Kappa Kalengu, Rheed. Mal. vol. vii. p. 95. t. 50. Convolvulus 
Batatas, Linn. Am. Ac. vol. vi. p. 121. C. esculentus, Sal. Prodr. 123. C. chrysorrhizus, Sol. in 
Forst. Plant. Escul. 24; Forst. Prodr. n. 503; Soland. Prim. Fl. Ins. Pacif. p. 224, et in Parkins. 
Drawings of Tahit. Plants, t. 19 (ined.). 7pomea mammosa, Chois. Convol. Or. p. 93, ex parte ?— 
Nomen vernac. Vitiense, ** Kumara” v. ‘‘ Kawai ni papalagi."—Cultivated throughout Viti (See- 
mann !). ; 
The Sweet Potato succeeds well under cultivation, but is not much valued by the natives. It is probably 
an introduction from New Zealand, as one of its native names (Kumara) is identical with that used by the 
Maories, and as the other vernacular nme (Kawai ni papalagi, or foreign Dioscorea), points to its importa- 
tion from abroad. It is singular that the Quichua name for sweet potato, which I found in the high- 
lands of Ecuador, is * Cumar,” identical with the Polynesian Kumara or Umara, and perhaps pointing to the 
country whence the South Sea Islanders originally obtained this esculent. I directed the attention of Mr. 
Markham to this fact, and he has incorporated it in his ‘ Dictionary of the Quichua Language.’ 
2. B. paniculata, Chois. in DC. Prodr. vol. ix. p. 339; caule volubili glabro crasso; foliis pe- 
tiolatis amplis palmatis 5—7-fidis glabris, lobis ovato-lanceolatis obtusiusculis raro acuminatis ; pedun- 
. 
