380 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1952 



nipa palm, Nipa fruticosa, deep in a many-channeled swamp at the 

 head of Hinai Bay on the north side of the island (pi. 6, lower) . This 

 is its most northerly known occurrence. It has not been previously 

 recorded from the Ryukyus, but, as later learned, Japanese botanists 

 knew of its presence on another small island just south of Iriomote. 

 It is not known in Formosa. Perhaps these Ryukyu occurrences 

 arose from drift from the Philippines carried in the Japan Current, 

 which does not touch Formosa. 



On the trip up the Urauchi River we collected or noted many man- 

 groves along the shore with other trees commonly associated with 

 them, especially Heritiera littoralis (Sterculiaceae) (pi. 10, center), 

 a striking, widespread, light-barked tree, so much sought for timber 

 and so easily reached by boat that it is rather scarce today, and Bar- 

 ringtonia racemosa (Barringtoniaceae), whose fallen white corollas 

 with abundant long stamens floated past us on the ebbing tide. Here 

 we found a single plant of pandanus with extra large and vicious 

 thorns, growing along a shore thick with normally spiny pandanus 

 plants. Elsewhere on this island we found a pandanus plant with no 

 thorns at all except at the bases of the terminal delicate white leaves, 

 which were still unopened and unexposed to the light. Thus the vari- 

 ability in this widespread littoral plant gives problems for future 

 taxonomists and perhaps material for a wide range of economic uses. 

 As we progressed farther up this stream the mangroves dropped out 

 and the drier-land woody vegetation overhung the banks, such as 

 banyans with buttressed bases; the Chinaberry or pride-of -India, 

 Melia azedarach (Meliaceae) , probably brought in and planted at some 

 settler's hut and now escaped and growing in more open places; 

 Macaranga tanarius (Euphorbiaceae) ; Dendropanax iriomotensis (or 

 Textoria iriomotensis) and Shefllera octophylla (or Agalma lutchu- 

 ense, as it has been called by Japanese botanists) (Araliaceae) ; 

 tree ferns; the Japanese snowbell, Styrax japonica (Styracaceae) ; 

 the native palm Arenga engleri; and even a red-flowered rhododen- 

 dron, Rhododendron eriocarpum (Ericaceae) , still in bloom though it 

 was mid- August. 



As in Okinawa, the most significant plants of Iriomote are those 

 that comprise the widespread dense evergreen forests, especially mem- 

 bers of the oaks, the laurel, the tea, and the ebony families (pi. 5, 

 left). These have been given considerable attention by foresters 

 and lumbermen. The United States Army has prepared sets of 

 wood samples from timbers cut in these forests during lumbering 

 operations soon after the war's end. 



Of Ishigaki Island little more need be said. A striking contrast 

 to the coarse, unkempt bunch grass (Miscanthus floridulus) covering 

 hills of southern Okinawa was the smooth grassy appearance of the 



