CONSPICUOUS TROPICAL PLANTS 



TPR.W'ELKRS in the Tropics, are always impressed by the 

 curious forms of vegetation there encountered, but 

 their reports of such things seldom include more than a casual 

 mention of the species that interest them with perhaps some 

 notes of their abundance. It is a rare occurrence for the 

 tropical botanist to tell anything alxnit the conspicuous fea- 

 tures of the plants he discovers. The following account of 

 some phases of Hawaiian vegetation, by Dr. A. B. Lyons, 

 though published a long time ago, gives more information in 

 such matters than' is usual and is well worth a second appear- 

 ance in print. 



One will find in Honolulu very few plants belonging to 

 the aboriginal flora of the islands. Even the grasses and the 

 weeds are nearly all exotic. The few "indigenous" trees oc- 

 casionally planted are after all not aboriginal, having been 

 brought from the Polynesian islands further south by the first 

 settlers. \'ery few species peculiar to the Hawaiian Islands 

 are to be found anywhere except in the forests of the interior, 

 where such species mostly originated. A few only of the 135 

 or more native ferns are commonly planted in gardens. The 

 one that will particularly attract attention is the bird's nest 

 fern (Neottopteris A'idus), which is frequently placed in the 

 crotch of a branching tree trunk, its favoi-ite location in its 

 lial)itat. One wcudd not recognize it at first glance as a fern 

 at all. Its fronds are quite entire, three to five feet long by 

 five to seven inches wide, forming a regular crown. The 

 foliage is rather that of an endogenous plant like the banana 



