XXI 



THE AGE OF COMPOSITyE 



233 



region and with solitary islands, the Hawaiian, Fijian, and Tahitian 

 groups being regarded as the three principal centres of plant-life 

 in the open Pacific. 



All plants introduced by the aborigines and the white man are 

 excluded. In so doing, I have mainly followed Seemann, a safe 

 guide in all matters relating to weeds and to cultivated plants. 

 The flora of a Pacific island thus treated undergoes serious diminu- 

 tion in its extent. In the case of the Rarotonga flora, for example, 

 which according to Cheeseman includes about 260 flowering plants, 

 the number of truly indigenous plants, in the sense here implied, is 

 only 140. Though this is an extreme case, it will serve to illustrate 

 the principle here followed. 



Table B (Flowering Plants). 



Comparison of the Hawaiian, Fijian, and Tahitian genera. {All genera containing 



introduced plants entirely are excluded. ) 



Remarks. — The figures in brackets are percentages. S. = See- 

 mann, H. = Horne and Seemann. 



In the construction of this table, Hillebrand, Seemann, and 

 Drake del Castillo have been mainly followed, except with regard 

 to the endemic genera for Hawaii and Fiji. In this respect the 

 Index Kezvensis has been largely consulted as well as Engler's 

 publications, as indicated in the text. Hillebrand's total of nearly 

 forty Hawaiian peculiar genera and Seemann's total of sixteen for 

 Fiji have thus been considerably reduced. The two results given 

 for Fiji are those of Seemann alone and with Home superadded. 

 Home discovered, according to Hemsley, no new genera, but several 

 genera from outside regions were added to the Fijian flora. Taking 

 them as twenty-five (two-thirds of his own computation), I have 



