CHAPTER VI 



THE TAHITIAN STRAND-FLORA 

 {From materials supplied mainly by the work of Drake del Castillo) 



Lacks the mangroves and their associated plants. — Possesses mainly the 

 plants of the coral beach. — Predominant agency of the currents. — Inland 

 extension of shore-plants. — Summary. 



JUST as the littoral plants of Fiji may be regarded as typical of 

 Western Polynesia, so the strand-flora of Tahiti, or, rather, of the 

 Tahitian Islands, may be considered as representing Eastern Poly- 

 nesia. We have thus the Tahitian area, comprising generally the 

 Cook and Austral Groups, the Society Islands, the Paumotus, and 

 also the Marquesas, as contrasted with the Fijian area, including the 

 neighbouring Samoan and Tongan groups. For the sake of brevity 

 the terms Fiji and Tahiti are often used as equivalents of the entire 

 areas (see Note 25). 



The littoral flora of this part of the Pacific lacks the mangroves 

 and most of the plants that are associated in the Fijian region 

 with a mangrove-swamp, either at its borders or within its interior. 

 Thus we miss here the true mangroves of the genera Rhizophora, 

 Bruguiera, Carapa, and Lumnitzera, as well as the accompanying 

 trees and shrubs, such as Barringtonia racemosa, Excaecaria Agal- 

 locha, and Heritiera littoralis. The climbers and straggling plants 

 that are so characteristic of the borders of the mangrove-creeks in 

 Fiji proper are also wanting, such as Clerodendron inerme, Derris 

 uliginosa, and Smythea pacifica ; and we do not find in the Tahi- 

 tian region the Giant-Sedge (Scirpodendron costatum) that is so 

 common in the mangrove-swamps of Fiji, and occurs also in 

 Samoa. 



It is not at first sight easy to account for the absence from 

 Tahiti of the mangrove-formation and of so many of the plants 



