CHAP. XV 



THE SAXDWICH ISLANDS 323 



Peculiar Features of the Flora. — This rich insular flora \z 

 wonderfully peculiar, for if we deduct 115 species, which 

 are believed to have been introduced by man, ^there 

 remain 705 species of flowering plants of which 574, or 

 more than four-fifths, are quite peculiar to the islands. 

 There are no less than 88 pecuhar genera out of a total of 

 265 and these 38 genera comprise 254 species, so that the 

 most isolated forms are those Avhich most abound and thus 

 give a special character to the flora. Besides these peculiar 

 types, several genera of wide range are here represented by 

 highly peculiar species. Such are the Hawaiian species of 

 Lobelia which are woody shrubs either creeping or six feet 

 high, while a species of one of the peculiar genera of Lobe- 

 liacea? is a tree reaching a height of forty feet. Shrubby 

 geraniums grow twelve or fifteen feet high, and some 

 vacciniams grow as epiphytes on the trunks of trees. 

 Violets and plantains also form tall shrubby plants, and 

 there are many strange arborescent compositse, as in other 

 oceanic islands. 



The affinities of the flora generally are very wide. 

 Although there are many Polynesian groups, yet Austra- 

 lian, New Zealand, and American forms are equally re- 

 presented. Dr. Pickering notes the total absence of a large 

 number of families found in Southern Polynesia, such as 

 Dilleniacese, Anonacese, Olacaceae, Aurantiacese, Guttiferoe. 

 Malpighiacea^, Meliacese, Combretacese, Rhizophoracese, 

 Melastomacea^, Passifloracese, Cunoniacese, Jasminacese, 

 Acanthaceae, Myristicaceae, and Casuarace?e, as well as the 

 genera Clerodendron, Ficus, and epidendric orchids. 

 Australian affinities are shown by the genera Exocarpus, 

 Cyathodes, Melicope, Pittosporum, and by a phyllodinous 

 Acacia. New Zealand is represented by Ascarina, 

 Coprosma, Acsena, and several Cyperacea? ; while America is 

 represented by the genera Nama, Gunnera, Phyllostegia, 

 Sisyrinchium, and by a red-flowered Rubus and a yellow- 

 flowered Sanicula allied to Oregon species. 



There is no true alj^ine flora on the higher summits, but 

 several of the temjDerate forms extend to a great elevation. 

 Thus Mr. Pickering records Vaccinium, Ranunculus, Silene, 

 Gnaphalium and Geranium, as occarring above ten 



Y 2 



