Zi MacCauGHEey: THE STRAND FLORA 
Guppy (’06, p. 529) shows that of the littoral plants of Fiji and 
Tahiti, 75-80 per cent. have seeds or fruits that will float un- 
harmed for two months or more, and that about 30 per cent. of 
this number are legumes. He says: 
n the course of the ages the plants with buoyant seeds or seed vessels have been 
gathered at the coast. This is indicated: (1) By the far greater proportion of species 
with buoyant seeds and seed vessels amongst the shore plants than among the inland 
plants. (2) By the circumstance that almost all the seeds or seed vessels that float 
unharmed for long periods belong to shore plants. (3) By the fact that when a genus 
has both inland and littoral species, the seeds or fruits of the coast species as a rule 
float for a long time, while those of the inland species either sink at once or float only 
for a short period. . 
Guppy (’06, p. 563) makes the following list of ‘Hawaiian 
plants with buoyant seeds and fruits known to be dispersed by the 
currents either exclusively or, as in a few species, with the assistance 
of frugivorous birds”:  Colubrina astatica, Dioclea violacea, 
Mucuna gigantea, M. urens, Strongylodon lucidum, Vigna lutea, 
Caesalpinia Bonducella, Scaevola Koenigit, Ipomoea glaberrima, 
I. Pes-caprae, Vitex trifolia and Cassytha filiformis. Although 
Many strand plants possess seeds or fruits that can float for long 
periods, other widely distributed species possess feeble or no flota- 
tion power. It is necessary to recognize other agencies. 
TREES AND LOGS AS DISSEMINATORS 
Logs and tree-trunks of various coniferous species from the 
Puget Sound region are commonly cast ashore upon the Hawaiian 
windward coasts. It is a matter of common observation that on 
all windy coasts, small seeds, like sand, are blown into every 
available cranny. In this way many lodge in the holes and cracks 
in drift-wood, which is floated off at high tide or during storm time, 
and thus the seeds or fruits may be carried to new localities. 
Strand seeds or fruits which do not possess special flotation devices 
may be carried to new shores. Moreover, the seeds of inland 
species may be carried by trees which have been uprooted by 
inundations or storms, either in the soil around the roots, or in the 
bark, etc. 
Ernst (’08, p. 56) states that “tree stems and branches played 
an important part in the colonization of Krakatau by plants 
and animals.”’ Hedley (’15) records a log of Dammara dustralis 
