294 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC CHAP. 



Vaccinium, Vacciniaceae, Samoa, from the northern hemisphere, 

 Nertera depressa, Rubiaceae, Samoa, from the Antarctic flora. 

 Dammara, Coniferae, Fiji. -\ Not as a rule belonging; 



Podocarpus, Coniferae, Fiji and Tonga, v to the present age 

 Dacrydium, Coniferae, Fiji. j of dispersal. 



But little can be said of the mountain-flora of Fiji, since on 

 account of the relatively low elevation of the islands there are but 

 few special mountain-genera ; and as a rule we find only here and 

 there a solitary species on some isolated peak that recalls the 

 upland flora of the Hawaiian mountains. " None of the mountains 

 of Fiji," remarks Home (page 60), " are high enough for an alpine 

 flora to exist. Many of the plants found on the tops of the moun- 

 tains are also found near the level of the sea. On the other hand 

 sea-level plants may also be found on the tops of the hills." 



Fiji lacks the endemic genera of Compositae and of Lobeliaceae- 

 that often give a character to the mountain-floras of the Hawaiian 

 and Tahitian regions, though, as remarked in Chapters XXI and 

 XXII., their absence involves something more than a question of 

 station. We find, however, four genera of the Antarctic or New 

 Zealand flora, Weinmannia, Lagenophora, Coprosma, and Astelia. 

 The first-named genus possesses four or five species ranging up to- 

 2,000 feet, some of which are endemic, and it has been already 

 discussed in this chapter. The United States Exploring Expedi- 

 tion found a single species of Lagenophora (L. pickeringii) on the- 

 mountains of the Mathuata coast of Vanua Levu, and no other 

 species seems to have since been found. The subject is dealt with 

 in Chapter XXIII in the case of Hawaii, but it may be here 

 observed that there is an Hawaiian mountain species, and that the 

 route followed by the ancestor of the Fijian species from the New 

 Zealand home of the genus is indicated by a species in the inter- 

 mediate Kermadec group. The genus Astelia has been discussed 

 on page 291. It is represented in Hawaii and in most of the oceanic 

 groups of elevated islands. . The solitary species, A. montana, 

 discovered by Seemann on the summit of Kandavu in Fiji, has 

 since been found in Samoa, and probably Mr. Home's collections 

 contain another species. 



The Rubiaceous genus Coprosma needs a few special remarks, 

 since a particular genus of birds seems to have been concerned in 

 dispersing it in the South Pacific. About fifty species are 

 enumerated in the Index Kewensis, and if we include a few other 

 species from the collections of Hillebrand, Home, Cheeseman^ 



