CHAPTER XXII 



THE ERA OF THE ENDEMIC GENERA {continued) 



The Composit/E and Lobeliace^e {contimud) 

 The Age of the Tree-Lobelias 



The distribution of the arborescent Lobeliaceje. — On the upper flanks of Ruwen- 

 zori. — The Lobeliacea; of the Hawaiian Islands.- — The Lobehaceas of the 

 Tahitian or East Polynesian region. — The capacities for dispersal. — The 

 explanation of the absence of the early Lobeliaceas from West Polynesia. — 

 The other Hawaiian endemic genera. — The Fijian endemic genera. — 

 Summary. 



The Lobeliaceae rank with the Compositae in the prominence of 

 their position in the early Pacific floras. Though absent, as far as 

 is known, from Fiji, they are represented in Hawaii by 58 

 species, all endemic and belonging to six genera, of which five are 

 not found elsewhere. All possess, as Hillebrand remarks, a woody 

 stem, by far the greater number being either tall shrubs, 5 or 6 feet 

 high, or small trees, 10 to 20 feet or more in height. In the East 

 Polynesian or Tahitian region, the order is represented by two 

 genera containing in all five known species and restricted to those 

 islands. One genus is common to the islands of Tahiti and 

 Rarotonga, and the other is confined to Raiatea. The species may 

 be shrubby or arborescent. 



It was for some time considered that the oceanic archipelagoes 

 of the Pacific were the exclusive centres of these singular arbores- 

 cent Lobeliaceae (I am here quoting Baillon in his Natural History 

 of Plants). And indeed this idea would receive some support from 

 the circumstance that Dr. Hillebrand, in his work on Hawaii, says 

 little or nothing about the affinities or general relations of plants 

 which he enthusiastically termed " the pride of our flora." His 

 death in 1886 deprived his work of its crowning piece, a discussion 



