xxni THE HAWAIIAN MOUNTAIN-FLORA 283 



Hawaiian Islands, from 1,800 feet up to the limit of vegetation 

 10,000 feet and over above the sea. I found it, however, at even 

 lower levels. On the Puna coast of Hawaii, associated with 

 Metrosideros polymorpha, Osteomeles anthyllidifolia, and other 

 inland plants, it descends on the surface of ancient lava-flows to 

 the coast wherever the bolder spurs reach the sea-border. The 

 other species, C. imbricata, is more exclusively confined to the 

 greater altitudes. It is endemic, and may possibly be a station 

 form of the other species. 



The six species of Lysimachia are found at different elevations, 

 one near the sea-shore, others at altitudes of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, 

 and others again at elevations of 6,000 feet. Chenopodium sand- 

 wicheum occurs at all elevations from near the coast to the high 

 inland plains of Hawaii and to the upper slopes of Mauna Kea, 

 that is to say, up to altitudes of 6,000 or 7,000 feet. Hillebrand 

 observes that it is a low decumbent plant at the coast, and may 

 become arborescent with a height of 12 to 15 feet in the upper 

 forests of Mauna Kea. 



The species of Santalum (sandal-wood trees) also display great 

 vertical range in these islands. Though S. freycinetianum, which 

 is also a Tahitian species, is most at home in the forests 2,000 to 

 4,000 feet above the sea, it has, as Hillebrand informs us, a dwarfed 

 form that extends far up the mountain slopes of Mauna Loa and 

 Hualalai to elevations of 7,000 or 8,000 feet, and another dwarfed 

 shrubby variety that grows only near the sea-shore. Another 

 species, S. haleakalse, occurs as a tall shrub on Haleakala at eleva- 

 tions of 8,000 to 10,000 feet. Among the sedges, most of those of 

 the genera Carex and Rhynchospora are found at altitudes of 

 between 3,000 and 7,000 feet, and two grasses of the genus 

 Deyeuxia occur at elevations of 6,000 to 8,000 feet. 



Amongst these Hawaiian mountain genera with both endemic 

 and non-endemic species there are no plants possessing fruits which 

 from their size could be with difficulty regarded as dispersed by 

 birds. The mode of dispersal of these plants is in some cases 

 indeed not far to seek. Thus in the stomach of an Hawaiian 

 goose (Bernicla sandwicensis), shot by my companion Dr. Kramer 

 on the slopes of Mauna Loa, I found a number of the " stones " 

 of Cyathodes tameiameias, the plant being abundant in fruit in the 

 immediate vicinity. It is highly probable that the seeds of 

 Santalum have been carried over the Pacific by frugivorous birds. 

 We learn from Dr. Brandis that Santalum album in India is mainly 

 spread through the agency of birds {Dot. Chall. Expcd., iii. 13). 



