and cracks into which one is likely to fall, and by going round about them one 
gets lost in no time. The slopes of Mauna Loa are very gradual on this side, 
while those of Mauna Kea and Hualalai are steep. On this plain are scattered 
many volcanic cones, mainly composed of black cinder and covered with dense 
vegetation. But especially on the crater bottoms one is likely to find interest- 
ing plants which have disappeared from the open plain, where they are eagerly 
devoured by cattle and goats, while at the bottom of these craters they are safe 
from their ravages. Anyone collecting on this plain should direct his steps to 
all these cones, as it is here only that he can obtain things of interest. 
Curiously enough, the plants found on these various cones are not always 
the same. On the plain itself, Geranium cuneatum is plentiful, besides Rail- 
lardia sp.?, Coprosma ernodeoides, a rubiaceous creeper with black, round 
berries, the main food of the native geese, besides Ohelo, Rumex giganteus, 
Styphelia tameiameia, an epacridaceous plant, Myoporum sandwicense (Naio), 
Sophora chrysophylla, the iridaceous Sisyrynchium acre, while in the black cin- 
der the caryophyllaceous Silene struthioloides and S. lanceolata thrive best. 
Both species develop a large root system having a main tap root, sometimes 
tuber-like, and often 5 inches in diameter and over a foot and a half long. The 
root is sweet to the taste, and is eaten by the natives. 
Here and there are shrubs or small trees of Mamani and N aio, among which 
one sometimes finds Suttonia and a stunted variety of Pittosporum Hosmeri. 
Dodonaea eriocarpa forms straight trees some 25 feet in height with trunks of 
8 inches in diameter. At Naahuaumni, a historic place where King Umi took the 
first Hawaiian census, near the old Judd road which leads to the 1859 flow, the 
santalaceous Exocarpus gaudichaudii, a shrub, is not uncommon, and extends 
up the slopes of Hualalai. Stenogyne rugosa var. must once have been exceed- 
ingly common, but can now only be found growing in deep fissures, which cover 
them completely, where they are safe from cattle. Osteomeles anthyllidifolia, a 
rosaceous vine of great toughness, forms dense tangles over thrown-up fissures 
in pahoehoe lava. During the morning sunshine thousands of Odynerus (Ha- 
Wailian wasps) and bees can be found flying over the sweet-scented flowers of the 
above-mentioned vine, which is called Ulei by the natives. 
The only poisonous plant in this district is a shrub, a species of Wikstroe- 
mia, with long, drooping, slender branchlets. The bark, like that of all other 
Hawaiian Wikstroemia, or Akzia, as they are termed by the natives, is extremely 
tough and very suitable for cordage. 
The crater cones in the neighborhood of Puulehua are Puuokeanue, Puuoi- 
kaaka, Pohakuloa and others. These cones support a very interesting vegeta- 
tion. Besides the plants found on the plain proper, Lipochaeta subcordata, de- 
seribed by Gray, is very numerous at an elevation of 5300 feet, and forms dense 
masses on Pohakuloa crater to the exclusion of everything else. It has previously 
only been reported from the sea shore, where it is one or two feet high, while 
at this elevation it branches diffusely, covering the whole crater, being almost 
46 
