20 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



than a fern, but the spores growing on its under surface betraA' 

 it. 



The tree ferns, Cibotium and Sadlcria, which abound in 

 the forests and which are pecuharly Hawaiian species, you 

 will rarely see in cultivation in Honolulu. They do not thrive 

 in so dry a climate. This is unfortunate, for nothing could 

 be more ornamental. The finest of them, is the pulu fern {Ci- 

 botiim Chamissoi), whose uncoiling young fronds are clothed 

 with a glistening silky capillary chaff of an old gold color, 

 fine and soft as the finest wool ; formerly collected under the 

 vernacular name of pulu for filling pillows and mattresses — 

 the same thing that in Sumatra is known as pengawar djambi 

 or paku kindang, used by surgeons as a haemostatic. The 

 fern trees in the forests of Hawaii have trunks six to fifteen, 

 even twenty feet high and six to ten inches or more (even 

 two feet) in diameter. 



Among the indigenous trees occasionally seen in Hono- 

 lulu is the bread fruit. The young trees are very beautifid 

 while they retain their symmetrical pyramidal form. The 

 ample dark green rigid leaves, more than a foot long, pin- 

 nately lobed, make a very dense shade, and suggest the idea 

 of extraordinary vigor) of growth, which is further impressed 

 by the great green globes of its fruit. In the older trees the 

 beauty of symmetry is lost, but there remains an air of sturdy 

 self-assertion which seems to excuse tlieir grotesque ugliness. 



Another tree, doubtless imported like the bread fruit, by 

 the aborigines, although now one of the most common of the 

 forest trees, is the ohia or mountain apple (Eugenia Malac- 

 censis), occasionally planted in Honolulu, but not happy where 

 there is so little rain. A noble tree it is, with its large, oval 

 deep green, shining leaves, and the scarlet tassels of its nu- 

 merous blossoms, but it is when the fruit is ripe that the tree 



