1920] WILSON, LIUKIU ISLANDS AND THEIR UGNEOUS VEGETATION 175 



on coral rocks and cliffs near the sea and is a common undergrowth in Pine 

 woods. Also it has been much planted and in times of food scarcity starch 

 obtained from the stems was formerly a common article of diet. The plants 

 are from one to eight feet tall and have many stems and short leaves which 

 are cut, dried and used as fuel in the native houses and in the process of 

 boiling sugar at the native mills. The Japanese name for this plant is 

 *' Sotetsu," which signifies " never die," and aptly describes its hardiness and 

 power of recovering from harsh treatment. From a distance it has a very 

 black appearance and being extraordinarily abundant is a most conspicu- 

 ous feature of the vegetation. 



On Yagaji, a small island on the west coast some forty miles north of 

 Naha, there is a swamp covered with Mangrove-like trees — the only one 

 known in the Okinawa group. The width is inconsiderable and tlie 

 length about a mile. It is composed of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza Lam. and 

 Kandelia Rheedii Wight & Arn. — bushy trees from 6-10 ft. high, 

 growing thickly together. At low tide it is possible to scramble through 



everywhere obtrude from the roots and 



make walking difficult. 



growths 



lector ins 



It 



makes an impenetrable hedge and the leaves are used by the Liukiu people 

 in making hats and basketware. An Agave, considered by Japanese botan- 

 ists A. rigida Miller, but probably A, Jourcroydes Lem., has become nat- 

 uralized, and has spread rapidly round the coast, and where it grows with 

 the Pandanus there is no passing. 



The wide-spread Scaevola Koenigii Vahl with its pale green, fleshy 

 leaves, its small, lipped flowers in axillary cymes and white fruits is abund- 

 ant and forms a broad shrub often 10 feet high. Much more ornamental 

 is Myoporum hontioides A. Gray, a rare plant in Liukiu except on Yagaji 

 Island. This is a large shrub, from 6 to 10 feet high and more in diameter, 

 with dull green, rather fleshy leaves and blue-purple to white, axillary, 

 tubular flowers each an inch long. In foliage and flower it is an attractive 



plant. 



^/' 



is rare. With these littoral shrubs and on sand and shingle often covered 



grows Cassytha filifi 



The first- 



named with its golden-yellow leafless stems forms a regular net and the 

 Ipomaea trails long distances, rooting at every node — I measured one 

 stem carefully; it w^as 110 feet long! 



Of Palms which with the littoral shrubs above mentioned give a tropical 

 aspect to the vegetation only two species are indigenous. The most com- 

 mon is Didymosperma Engleri Warb. which is plentiful as undergrowlh in 

 woods and thickets near the sea. It grows from 8 to 10 feet tall, has several 

 stems and pinnate leaves from 4 to 6 feet in length; the petiole and stem is 

 cased in strong, coarse blackish fibres. The fruit borne in large panicles, 

 is spheroid, slightly 3-angled, orange-colored and subtended by the colored 

 calyx which is blackish at the base. This species also grows in Formosa. 

 The other Palm is Livistona chinensisH. Br. and this is very rare on Okinawa 



