315 



island, are two shrubby Ruhiaceous species, and another 

 kind of shrub; Heliotropiujn prostratiim, Portulacca okracea, 

 a Lepidium {acre ?) and a Buchnera ? 



A thin vegetation, through which the ground is everywhere 

 seen, prevails here, consisting of a few shrubs with entire- 

 margined, simple, mostly succulent leaves and colourless 

 flowers ; these form a kind of thin brushwood, above which 

 the Cocoa Tree raises itself, while the Pandanns is conspicuous 

 by its singular form, entwined with the leafless, reddish stems 

 of the Cassytha. 



THE SANDWICH ISLES.— THE JOHNSTONE ISLANDS. 



The collections of plants which Archibald Menzies, the 

 learned companion of Vancouver, formed in his different 

 expeditions to the heights of O-Waihi and Mauwi, are still, 

 with many other treasures, enshrined in the herbarium of 

 Sir Joseph Banks; and although this venerable Nestor of 

 naturalists throws open his Gazopliylacium to all the learned 

 with the most unconstrained liberality, yet no one has at 

 present undertaken to make us acquainted with the alpine 

 Flora of O-Waihi. 



The vegetation of O-Waihi has nothing in common with 

 the adjoining continent, the coast of California. The leafless 

 form of the Acacias.^ the genera Metrosideros, Pandanus, 

 Santalum, Aleurites, Draccena, Amo7mim, Curcuma, and Tacca, 

 impress on it the character of their natural affinities. The 

 families of the Rubiacecs, Apocynece, and Urticece prevail ; of 

 the latter many wild species are used for making various 

 kinds of bark-cloth * ; and some arborescent milky Lobeliacece 

 are also found. The immediate margin of the island 

 produces only a few kinds of grass and herbs. In the 

 interior, the Flora is rich ; but it will bear no comparison 

 with the luxuriant variety of Brazilian nature. Only low 



* The Paper- Mulberri/ (Droussonetia papijrifera) is cultivated in tiie Sandwich 

 Islands, as in most of those of the South Seas, for the manufacture of cloth. 

 But it is a mistake to suppose that it is the only plant used for that purpose. 



