FLORA OF THE GROUP. 199 



v^arieties. was one of the principle sources of vegetable food used l)y the natives 

 at the time of the discovery of the islands. 



Associated with the foregoing is an interesting plant, the kipii kai," one of 

 two species of heliotrope which occurs on the low littoral zone. As the Hawaiian 

 name implies it is invariably found near the sea. Both species, however, usually 

 grow on the raised coral rock or the dry lava flows rather th.in the sand of the 

 shore. The pure white flowers are in small compact clusters on a low prostrate, 

 wiry stem. The close rosettes of thick silky leaves distinguishes the second 

 species " at once from the smooth-leafed larger form with the longer spikes of 

 white flowers. 



Account of the pickle weed ( akulikulikai ) ^ should here be taken since it is a 

 common and conspicuous plant in brackish water marshes about Honolulu and 

 Pearl Harbor and one that is rapidly spreading to other localities. 



Still another plant that is of interest, especially to the small boy, is the 

 nohu.*^ It is sometimes called oMahukona violet by reason of the fragrance of 

 its flowers. The plant is a trailing hairy vine-herb with usually eight pairs of 

 small leaflets to the leaf. The blossoms are yellow and an inch or more across. 

 But the feature of particular interest is the horny seed pods each segment of 

 which is armed with twin spines. The bare-footed boy who steps on one of these 

 pods as it lies buried in the sand is liable to remember the experience for a long 

 time. 



A common and interesting species in the lowlands along the shore or at the 

 mouths of streams where the water is not too brackish is the akaakai or bul- 

 rush ^" with its long, gradually tapering naked stems, three to six feet or more 

 in height. But there are many plants, sedges and grasses in this zone, common 

 on or near the sea-shore of the group, that are all so widespread in their general 

 distribution that they form a list too extensive to receive mention here. 



Such plants as the polinalina ^^ with the underside of the leaves and flowers 

 nearly white; the nehe,^- a low prostrate plant with small, thick, veinless, silky- 

 haired leaves ; the beach sandalwood,^-^ a low shrub with thick, fleshy, pale green 

 leaves; the maiapilo,^^ a straggling shrub with smooth leaves and large showy 

 many-stamened white flowers; the maoor native cotton,^^ a Ioav shrub witli hoary 

 white, three-to-five-lobed leaves and sulphur-yellow hibiscus-like flowers; the 

 pololo or dodder,!*' a leafless thread-like twining parasite, as Avell as such trees as 



* Eeliotropiiim Curassavicnm. ' Heliotropium anomalum. " Balis maritima. 



^ Iribulus cistoides. i" Scirpus lacustris. ii Yitex trifolia. ^- Lipochata integrifoUa. 



^^ Santalum littorale. ^* Capparis Sandwichwna. ^^ Gossypium tom-ei^tosiim. 

 1' Cuscuta Sandwiehiana. 



(Description of Plate Continued from Opposite Page.) 



Mexicana). 6. Hinahina (Heliotorjnum anomalum). 7. .lob's Tears (Coi.r lacryma- 

 Jobi). 8. Sedge (sp. indet). 9. Mint (sp. indet). 10. Bullnish [Akaakai] (Scirpu.^ 

 lacustris). 11. Lantana (Lantana Camara). 12. Kolu (Acacia Farncsiana). 13. Jimson 

 Weed [Kikania] (Datura Stramnnium). 14. "Opium" tree [Opiuma] (Inga dulcis =^ Pithe- 

 eolohium dvlce). 15. Club Rush (Scirpus palustris). 



