BOTANIZING WITH THE OKINAWANS — WALKER 363 



I wish here to express my appreciation to the Pacific Science Board 

 and the Smithsonian Institution for providing all the supplies and 

 equipment needed for this work and for the thorough preparations 

 for the trip. I am likewise deeply indebted to the United States 

 Army for its generous support and able guidance, especially to Brig. 

 Gen. James M. Lewis, in charge of the United States Civil Admin- 

 istration in the Ryukyus, and to Richard M. Varney, of the Forestry 

 Section, Food and Natural Resources Department, USCAR in Naha, 

 Okinawa. Many other civilians, both American and Okinawan, ren- 

 dered valuable assistance, without which the objectives of the mis- 

 sion could not have been attained, and to them I am deeply grateful. 



BOTANIZING IN OKINAWA 



After 23 years of herbarium work, largely on the eastern Asiatic 

 collection in the Smithsonian Institution, it was indeed a great satis- 

 faction to receive this assignment to collect specimens in the field 

 and to see the live plants previously known only by their dried repre- 

 sentatives. Traveling on Army orders, I left Washington by air on 

 May 31, 1951. En route, I visited Japanese botanists and institutions 

 in order to enlist their cooperation in identifying the specimens to be 

 collected. About 6 hours after taking off from Tokyo on June 12, the 

 Army transport plane, on which I was the only civilian passenger, 

 opened its door at the Naha airport, and I stepped forth into the soft, 

 humid, midnight breeze of Okinawa. 



Before going further with this story it will be well to gain an 

 understanding of the geography, climate, and other pertinent fea- 

 tures of the Ryukyu Islands. The map (fig. 1) shows them as a 

 775-mile-long necklace draped between the island of Kyushu, the 

 southern and most subtropical of the main area of Japan, and the 

 northeastern tip of Formosa or Taiwan, with Okinawa Shima, or 

 Okinawa Island, in about the center. This archipelago is obviously 

 a drowned mountain chain with the higher parts still protruding 

 above the sea. In latitude Okinawa lies as far north as Miami, Fla. 

 West and north lie China and Korea within easy bomber and jet- 

 fighter distance across the shallow East China Sea. On the east and 

 south the floor of the Pacific Ocean drops off steeply from the narrow 

 Ryukyu shelf to one of its deepest trenches. 



Geologically the Ryukyu Archipelago is composed of three rather 

 distinct arcs. The central arc consists of Paleozoic and igneous rocks 

 and contains the larger islands, including, from north to south, Yaku 

 Shima, Amami-Oshima, Tokuno Shima, the northern part of Okinawa 

 Shima, Ishigaki Shima, and Iriomote Shima. The outer or eastern 

 arc consists of Tertiary and young rocks and includes Tanega Shima, 

 Kikai Shima, the southern and eastern part of Okinawa Shima, 



