xvii OESALPINIA 187 



both coasts of Africa), it is assumed, as with Entada scandens, that 

 it has reached the African West Coast by crossing the Atlantic, 

 and the African East Coast by way of the Pacific and Indian 

 Oceans. The genus, I may remark, is distributed over the tropics 

 of the eastern and western hemispheres. 



As regards the general distribution of the two species in the 

 Pacific islands, it would appear from the writings of Seemann, 

 Hillebrand, Hemsley, Drake del Castillo, Reinecke, Cheeseman, 

 and Burkill that with the exception of Hawaii and Samoa, where 

 Caesalpinia bonducella alone occurs, and of Rarotonga where C. 

 bonduc alone is found, they are generally associated in the larger 

 groups, as in Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, and the Marquesas. 



The station of C&salpinia bonducella and C. bonduc. Both the 

 species are to be regarded as littoral plants likely to stray inland. 

 The first-named is described in the Botany of the " Challenger " 

 Expedition as essentially a sea-side plant, though flourishing 

 equally well inland, and in India extending to the Himalayas as 

 far as Kumaon, and up to elevations of 2,500 feet. Schimper 

 speaks of both species as characteristic of the Indo-Malayan 

 strand-flora, and he quotes Kurz when referring to C. bonduc as a 

 constituent of the beach-jungle of Pegu. 



In the Pacific islands they are typically littoral in their station ; 

 but they may extend inland, and in one or two groups they are 

 only known in their inland station. Dr. Seemann speaks of both 

 species only in connection with the beaches in Fiji, and alludes to 

 Caesalpinia bonducella (p. 72) as sometimes climbing over the 

 mangroves. In Vanua Levu both came under my notice on the 

 beaches, and in their immediate vicinity, usually as straggling bushes, 

 whilst at times they were to be observed climbing the mangroves at 

 the borders of the adjacent swamp. In this island of the Fijis they 

 do not, as a rule, stray far from the beach, and strange to say are 

 not to be ranked amongst those seashore plants that frequent the 

 " talasinga " regions or inland plains. Judging from the mountain 

 form found in the forests of Koro-mbasanga, if they extend inland 

 in Fiji they prefer the forests and become differentiated in character. 

 In Tahiti, as we learn from Nadeaud and Drake del Castillo, 

 C. bonducella occurs on the beach and extends inland to the 

 mouths of the valleys ; whilst C. bonduc is only recorded from the 

 mountains at elevations of 600 to 700 metres (2,000 to 2,300 

 feet). Jouan is quoted by Mr. Hemsley as remarking that C. 

 bonduc is as common in the Marquesas as brambles are in Europe 

 (Bot. Chall. Exped. iii, 145)- In Rarotonga, according to Cheeseman, 



