374 A MISSION TO VITI. 



In Wilkes's ' Narrative of the United States Explor- 

 ing Expedition,' mention is made of a Caryota, as grow- 

 ing in Fiji, and being used for rafters in building. " Its 

 straight stem, with its durable, hard, and tough quali- 

 ties, render it well adapted for this purpose." No one 

 has subsequently met with a true Caryota, one of the 

 most remarkable genera : and I fancy that the botanists 

 of Wilkes's expedition may have mistaken the eroso- 

 dentate leaves of a timber-yielding palm, probably Pty- 

 chosperma Vitiensis, WendL, abounding in some parts 

 of Viti Levu, for those of a Caryota. It is about forty 

 feet high, has a smooth trunk, pinnatifid leaves, and was 

 seen by me at Nukubalavu. I have not been able to 

 learn its native name. Two other species, the sago and 

 the cocoa-nut palm, already treated of above, and three 

 discovered by the United States Exploring Expedition, 

 augment the list of Fijian palms to ten. 



Ornamental plants are highly appreciated by both 

 natives and white settlers, especially those having either 

 variegated leaves or gay-coloured flowers, since the Fi- 

 jian flora shares with that of most islands the peculiarity 

 of possessing only a limited number of species display- 

 ing gay tints. Those most frequently seen about the 

 native houses are what gardeners call " leaf plants," in- 

 cluding the Danidani (Panax fruticosum, Linn.), with its 

 deeply-cut foliage, several beautiful varieties of the 

 Dracccna ferrea, some of which have been introduced 

 from various Polynesian islands, the Croton pictum, the 

 indigenous Acalypha virgata, Forst., termed Kalabuci 

 damu, the foliage of which changes from dark-green to 

 brown, yellow and scarlet, and two kinds of ornamental 



