BOTANY. 333 



S. verticillata. The aristae of the glumes of this 

 grass, being sharp-pointed and barbed, penetrate 

 clothing, and remain pertinaciously fixed ; hence the 

 species is very annoying to pedestrians, and is alone 

 sufficient to prevent the successful growth of sheep's 

 wool on the lands it infests. 



Society Isles ; Marquesas ; native name tutai piri. 

 Sandwich Group. 



TRIANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. 



Polycarpon tetraphyllum. St. Helena/ 



TETRANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 



Santalum paniculatum. Sandal-wood Tree, It 

 was only at Santa Christina, Marquesas, that we 

 found the Sandal- wood growing in any abundance, and 

 here, as at most other Polynesian islands, all the trees 

 of mature growth had been sacrificed to the demands 

 of commerce. The examples that remained were young 

 shrubs, six or eight feet high, vigorous, and in full 

 bloom. The trunk of this species is smooth and 

 straight, and, as well as the branches, covered with a 

 red-brown bark. The leaves are set in pairs, opposite, 

 ovate-lanceolate and entire; their colour is deep- 

 green, and each leaf is disposed to fold inwards, longi- 

 tudinally. The flowers are small, and supported in 

 clusters upon a common peduncle, which arises either 

 at the insertion of a leaf or from the extremity of a 

 branch ; the corolla is composed of four petals, placed 

 in a stellate form ; they are usually white, though 

 some have a red exterior; the entire flower emits a 

 peculiar and rather fetid odour. 



The Marque san name for the tree is bua ahi. 



