THE ORCHIDS OF HAWAII 



VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 



The College of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 



The Hawaiian flora has long been the object of scientific 

 interest and investigation. The Hawaiian Archipelago has a 

 unique biogeographic situation in its great remoteness from the 

 continental land areas. Its ecologic zones and districts are 

 strikingly diverse. Certain large plant groups are entirely ab- 

 sent; others are well represented and highly developed. These 

 and many other features that might be enumerated have all 

 combined to give the plant life of Hawaii a position of great and 

 unique scientific value among the insular floras. 



The popular impression that tropical islands are veritable 

 conservatories of choice and beautiful orchids receives a shock 

 in Hawaii. There are only three orchids in the Hawaiian wood- 

 lands, and these are inconspicuous and by no means abundant. 

 One species is restricted to the rarely- visited summit bogs. The 

 other two, although occurring in the lower humid forests, would 

 easily pass unnoticed by any save the professional botanist. 

 Since the first explorations of the Hawaiian forests, botanists 

 have repeatedly commented upon the paucity and insignificance 

 of the orchid flora. 



Recent geological studies of the Hawaiian Archipelago are 

 placing emphasis upon the great antiquity of this island group. 

 There is much evidence to substantiate the view that the present 

 islands are but the remnants of a once vastly larger land area, 

 that has almost wholly subsided beneath the ocean. This is 

 in accord with evidence obtained from many other parts of the 

 great Pacific region. It is entirely possible that the Hawaiian 

 region was isolated through submergence long before the final 

 burst of orchid migration and specialization in Malaya and the 

 South Pacific. 



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