408 C. SKOTTSBERG 



Umbelliferae. 



ApiuDi L. 



prostration Labill. Austral-circuiii[)., incl. A. atistrale Thouars. 



Primulaceae. 



Satiiolus L. 9 (12?), I cosmop.. 2 (5?) X. Amer., 3 southern S. Amer., i S. Afr., 

 I W. Austral., and tlie following. 



repejis (Forst.) Pers. Austral circump. 



Gentianaceae. 



Erythraea Neck. (Centaurium Hill.) 30-40, subtrop.-temp. 

 australis R. Br. Austral., \. Caled., Fiji. 



Convolvulaceae. 



Calystegia R. l^r. 7-8, temp.-subtrop. 



stpiuin (L.) R. Br. forma. All continents, also reported from Australia, but 

 possibly introduced in the s. hemisph. 

 Ipoiuaca L. 



pes caprae (L.) Roth. Pantrop. 



Solanaceae. 



LyciuDi L. About 100, most numerous in S. Amer. 



carolhiiamiui Walt. var. scDuiuiccnsc (Gray) L. C. Hitchc. Rapa, Hawaii. 



The flora is extremely poor, not much richer than in the low coral islands: 

 16 families, 26 genera and 31 species, and I am not at all sure that all of them 

 are indigenous and did exist here before man appeared on the scene; some may 

 have been accidentally or purposely introduced by the aborigines, by the American 

 whalers and in modern times. With regard to the "endemic" Solamini Insulae 

 PascJialis Bitter, see 2^c)\ it was used as medicine. P'our species are endemic 

 (13 %), but three of them belong to large grass genera needing monographic study. 

 FoRSiKK mentions {347), beside some cultigens, only Panictmi filifonue Jacq. 

 (-- Digitaria sanguinalis), a common weed, SJicfficldia ( = Samolus) rcpens, Aveim 

 filiformis ( -- Calamagrostis retrofracta) and Solanioii nigruvi; in his journal (j^<?) 

 he refers to Apiuni^ which he knew from New- Zealand, to ''JMivwsa' ( = Sophora), 

 and also to the former occurrence of sandalnwod. In regard to the distribution 

 of SiDitalion in Southeastern l\)lynesia, where S. hisulare Bert., including varieties, 

 is known from Tahiti, Kaiatea, Marquesas, and Austral Is., and 5. li€ndersone7isc 

 F. B. R. Brown (very chxse to the former) is found on Henderson Island in the 

 extreme south-east of the island swarm, it did not seem incredible that sandal- 

 wood once occurred on l^Laster Island, perhaps introduced by the aborigines; not 

 very long ago S. yasi Seem, was introduced to Tonga and is well established there. 

 The matter is sufficiently interesting to be discussed here. 



Tradition tells that when Hotu Matua, the legendary hero of the liaster 

 islanders, took possession of the island, he brought various useful trees and other 

 plants, a story first told by Fokster (,?^<^'. 583). Mhtraix [180. i^-xy) enu- 



