FLORA OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS HITCHCOCK. 461 



extent on Molokai, are well developed on West Maui, and reach a 

 maximum on the central mountains of Kauai. They are found at 

 or near the summit of ridges where the land is level or slightly 

 sloping. The vegetation consists of herbs and low shrubs ; tall shrubs 

 and trees are lacking, except as intrusions from the surrounding flora. 

 Many of the plants grow in tussocks so that the surface is a suc- 

 cession of irregular clumps and mounds. A characteristic and often 

 dominant plant of these bogs is a kind of sedge (Oreobolus furcatus) 

 which forms beautiful dark-green hemispherical tussocks as much as 

 a foot in diameter, the stiff short leaves closely packed forming an 

 even surface. Three species of tussock- forming panicums are found 

 in these bogs (see a preceding paragraph on grasses). Two beauti- 

 ful species of Lobelia (L. gaudlchaudii on West Maui ; L. kauaiensis 

 on Kauai) are found here. The plant is 4 to 10 feet tall with a large 

 panicle of cream-colored or pinkish flowers 3 or 4 inches long, as many 

 as 100 in a single inflorescence. Resembling the lobelia as to shape 

 of the plant is a composite (Wilkesia gray ana) with sword-shaped 

 leaves and long racemes of globose flower heads. 



Among the smaller plants is a little sundew, apparently the same 

 as the American species (Drosera longifolia), and two species of 

 beautiful little blue violets {Viola kauaiensis and V. mauiensis). 

 Growing in the scrubby rain forest more or less epiphytic, is a 

 shrubby violet (Viola robusta), the flowers resembling those of our 

 little Johnny-jump-up, but the plant, a shrub 3 to 5 feet tall. 



When the flora of the Hawaiian Islands is compared with that of 

 other tropical lands, more especially when compared with the flora 

 or tropical America, certain families that give a dominating impress 

 to the latter regions are found to be poorly represented in the former. 

 The orchid family, so characteristic of tropical lands throughout the 

 world, is in the Hawaiian Islands conspicuous by its absence. The 

 family is not absolutely without representation, but there are only 

 three species, belonging to as many genera, and all are rare, incon- 

 spicuous terrestrial forms, strangely in contrast with the showy 

 epiphytic orchids of other tropical regions. 



The characteristic palm family is represented in the native flora 

 only by about 10 species of Pritchardia, a genus of fan palms, most 

 of the species having been published since the appearance of Hille- 

 brand's Flora of the Hawaiian Islands. All the species are rare, 

 being represented by scattered specimens in remote localities. 



The tropical family Melastomataceae, with its triple-nerved leaves, 

 is entirely unrepresented and the great family Composite, the largest 

 of our plant families, is represented by surprisingly few native 

 species. The mint family (Labiatae) like the preceding has a dis- 

 proportionately small number of species, these belonging mostly to 



