72, 



Waialealar. and even a I'lHosponiin (I'. Gatinuum var. Wainlealae) . There ai'e 

 however simihir, if nut so extensive bogs here and there in the forests of the high 

 plateau of Wainica. Kauai, it is on the borders of these bogs as Kauluwehi that 

 we again meet witli Lohdia Kdiiacnsis, growing on trunks of trees, but with 

 Trcinafolobrlia iiiacrostaclnis var. Kauaiciisis. which is confined to near the 

 Siunmit and the snininit proper. It is fortunate tliat these mountain sununits 

 are diffieult of aeeess, and it is this that will insure the perpetuity of the various 

 species, nt least on Kauai. Some ruthless people have drained the bog of Puu- 

 kukui on West ]\Iaui, by the method known as "Louisiana drain" which will 

 change the entire vegetation of that mountain summit and will gradually denude 

 its slopes of the existing tree growth, through rapid erosion which must ensue 

 sooner or later, as the water which under normal condition was absorbed by the 

 vegetation at the sunnnit, is carried off at once in torrents. Such actions on the 

 part of ruthless ignoramuses should be curbed at all events. 



VERTICAL RANGE OF LOBELWIDEAE IX THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



In regard to the (piestion of altitude at which tlie Hawaiian Lobclioideae occur 

 in the Hawaiian Islands, it may be said that they range from sea level to seven 

 thousand feet elevation. 



Their best development is, however, reached at an elevation of four thousand 

 feet, usually on the windward side of the larger islands. The statement "from 

 sea level to seven thousand feet elevation" is a rather broad one when we con- 

 sider that not a single species of Cyanea, the genus with the largest number of 

 species, is represented at either of these points of altitude. The only species of 

 Lobclioideae which descends to sea level is Brigliaiiiin insignis, of Australian 

 ancestry, while Clcniiontia H(d( alah iisis is found at the highest mentioned 

 altitude, seven thousand feet. 



The genus Ci/anca ranges from one thousand feet elevation to five thousand 

 feet, but not higher, with the largest number of species occurring at the four- 

 thousand-foot level. ('Jcnuoiitia descends lower than Cyanea.Mnd nuiy be found 

 at 500 feet elevation, but also higher than Cyanea, at seven thousand feet eleva- 

 tion, the limit of altitude for Lobelioideae in the Hawaiian archipelago. The 

 genus Delissea with its few species ranges from less than one thousand feet to 

 nearly six thousand feet elevation : both limits are, however, reached by a single 

 species {Delis.iea undnlaia) , which has been found on the low island of Niihau, 

 and at lu-arly six thousand feet elevation on the largest and southernmost island, 

 Hawaii. 



The LdbcJioideav are partial to the rainforests and are practically al)sent 

 from the dry or mixed forest on the leeward side of the islands usually so rich 

 in species of trees. The only species which can be considered as belonging to 

 that region is Drlissea undidata, which is found in North Koua in the forests of 

 Puuwaawaa and in the dry forest on the slopes of Mauna Loa in South Kona. 



Not a single species of Cyaiica has so far been discovered in the actual dry 

 forest. The nearest approach to such a locality may be found on Kauai, where 

 we meet with the tallest species of Cyanea {C. Icptostcgia) on the lee side above 



