FLORA OF THE GROUP. 191 



Sources. 



Of the movement of ocean currents and their effect as transporting agents, 

 we know but little. Without doiibt some plants arc transported in this way. 

 As is well known the existing eiirrents in the North Pacific move in a direction 

 that carries them toward the equator from along the shores of the colder Ameri- 

 can continent. Although Hawaii is in the direct path of this current, few 

 indeed have been the representatives of the North American flora that have 

 been brought to the islands. However, we are not sure that the currents have 

 always had their present motion or direction. It is possible that in by-gone 

 ages, long ago, the movement of the currents of the Pacific may have been re- 

 versed, so that various plants from the Australian. Poh-nesian and South Ameri- 

 can regions that are well known here, might have been carried to the islands by 

 them, in one way or another. 



Nr JiBER OF Genera and Species. 



The ability of birds to make long and direct flights is elsewhere referred to 

 and without doubt they have been able to bring a small per cent of the total 

 plant population of the islands. But be that as it may we find the flora of 

 Hawaii remarkable in that, in proportion to the entire number of plants, it has 

 more species that are pecidiar to the group than are to be found in any other 

 region of the same area in the world. If we take the total number of plants, 

 including those which have been introduced and have become generally natural- 

 ized since the coming of Captain Cook, and include those undoubtedly intro- 

 duced by the Hawaiians themselves, we have a grand total, for the native and 

 introduced flora, of approximately a thousand species of flowering plants and a 

 trifle over one hundred and fifty species of cryptogamic or spore-bearing 

 plants, making a list, including recent species, of perhaps twelve hundred in 

 all. These are divided l\v Dr. Hillebrand into three hundred and sixty-five 

 genera, of which three hundred and thirty-five are flowering plants and thirty 

 are erjT)togams. It should be remembered of course that this number is being 

 added to and altered and rearranged from time to time, through continued re- 

 seai-ch. It is. however, sufficiently accurate to indicate the character of the 

 flora. 



Endemic and Introduced Plaxt.s. 



If we exclude from the total list as above given those Ivuown to have been 

 introduced by the Hawaiians and Europeans we find over eight hundred and 



(Description of Plate Continued from Opposite Page.) 



in a rain forest. In the Lauhala tree (Pandanus odoratissitmui) is a bird's nest fern [Ekaha] 

 (Asplenium nidus) in its natural habitat. The Ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha) trees in the 

 background are overrun with Irie {Fn-ycineiia Arnoiti) while in the foreground several genera 

 of ferns can be recognized among them Sadleria, Cibotium, Asplenium, Aspidium, and the like. 

 3. A famous tree fern [Heii] (Cibotium Men^iesii) surrounded by a jungle of Sadleria. 

 Aspidium and other genera of ferns which abound in the moist woods of Hawaii. 4. Wild 

 Bananas [Maia] (Musa sapientum) and cultivated Coffee (Coffea Aralica) growing in a 

 forest clearing. 



