CHAPTER XXIV 



THE MOUNTAIN-FLORAS OF THE TAHITIAN AND FIJIAN 



REGIONS 



The mountain-flora of the Tahitian region, as illustrated by the non-endemic 

 genera. — Derived chiefly from high southern latitudes. — Weinmannia, 

 Coprosma, Vaccinium, Astelia, Coriaria, Cyathodes, Nertera depressa, 

 Luzula campestris. — The mountain flora of Rarotonga. — The mountain- 

 flora of the Fijian region, as illustrated by the non-endemic genera. — 

 Weinmannia, Lagenophora, Coprosma, Astelia, Vaccinium, Nertera 

 depressa. — The Fijian Coniferas. — Dammara, Podocarpus, Dacrydium. — 

 Not belonging to the present era of dispersal. — The age of dispersal of the 

 Coniferae in the Pacific. — Earlier than the age of Compositae and Lobeliaceae. 

 — The first in the Mesozoic period. — The last in the Tertiary period. — 

 Summary. 



The Mountain-Flora of the Tahitian Region as 

 Illustrated by the Non-Endemic Genera 



This floral region of the Pacific corresponds with the limits of 

 Eastern Polynesia, and includes not only the Tahitian group 

 proper, but also the Cook, Austral, Paumotuan, and Marquesan 

 groups. It is only, however, in Tahiti, the peaks of which rise to 

 over 7,000 feet above the sea, that we should expect to find such a 

 mountain-flora, since the islands of the other groups are much 

 lower, the highest of them in the Marquesan group barely exceed- 

 ing 4,000 feet. Yet even in Tahiti it is not possible to speak of a 

 mountain-flora in the sense that we attach to it in Hawaii. The 

 elevated area of its interior is, as described in Chapter XIX., 

 relatively very small ; whilst, as Drake del Castillo points out, the 

 conditions presented by the steep mountain-slopes rarely afford a 

 hold for trees of any size, ferns often predominating in the higher 

 levels. Still, we can observe the traces of such a flora, and it is in 

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