528 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC 



Note 81. On the vertical range of some of the most typical and most 

 conspicuous of the plants in the forests on the Hamakua 

 slopes of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. 



,, 82. Aboriginal weeds. 



90. On the buoyancy of the seeds of Euphorbia amygdaloides 

 and E. segetalis. 



91. Mr. E. Kay Robinson on Aster tripolium. 



NOTE i (page 13) 

 ON THE NUMBER OF KNOWN SPECIES OF FIJIAN FLOWERING PLANTS 



Rather over 600 species of flowering plants are included in Seemann's 

 Flora VitiensiS) excluding the weeds and the plants introduced by man. 

 Home's -collections would probably add another 300 species ; and many 

 more remain to be discovered. 



NOTE 2 (page 13) 

 THE LITTORAL PLANTS OF FIJI 



In the following table are incorporated the results of an extensive 

 series of observations and experiments on the buoyancy of the seeds and 

 fruits of the shore plants made by the author during his sojourn of two 

 years in Fiji, and based not only on prolonged buoyancy-tests, but also on 

 systematic examination of the stranded and floating seed-drift, both of sea 

 and river. The details would occupy many chapters : and it is only 

 possible here to give the bare results. Since Professor Schimper went 

 over much the same ground in the Malayan region, one enjoys in many 

 cases the great advantage of his authority ; but a fair proportion of the 

 results are new ; and, besides, there are a number of plants included, the 

 buoyancy of whose seeds or fruits has long been well established. In 

 all cases the seed or fruit is taken as it presents itself for dispersal by the 

 currents. Many of the plants are discussed with some detail in various 

 parts of this book, as indicated in the reference column of the table. 



Since the Gramineae and the Cyperaceae contain very few species suited 

 for direct transport by the currents over wide areas of sea, this list may 

 be regarded as containing nearly all the littoral flowering plants possessing 

 seeds or seed-vessels with any buoyancy of importance. 



Nearly all the Tahitian strictly littoral plants are represented in Fiji, and 

 the few that have not been found there yet, such as Sesbania grandiflora, 

 Heliotropium anomalum, &c., may exist, as in the first-named species, in 

 the neighbouring Tongan group, and may probably even exist in Fiji. 

 Two other Tahitian littoral plants, that are widely spread in the Pacific, 

 namely, Suriana maritima and Sesuvium Portulacastrum, are found in 

 Tonga, and are included in my list of Fijian shore plants, though not yet 

 recorded from that group, where, however, they will, without a doubt, be 

 found by some future observer. 



