312 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC chap. 



significance of the relation of the Hawaiian Gardenias to those of 

 the combined Fijian and Tahitian areas consists in regarding the 

 two regions, the Hawaiian and the South Pacific, as of equivalent 

 value, and each large Hawaiian island as equivalent to one of the 

 southern archipelagoes. 



TJie Station of tJie Pacific Gardenias. — Although they may occur 

 in the forests, the Gardenias of the Pacific are most characteristic 

 of dry, thinly vegetated localities, and they have an inclination for 

 the vicinity of the coast. In the Tahitian Group, as we learn from 

 the writings of Nadeaud and Drake del Castillo, Gardenia tahiten- 

 sis thrives much better on coral islands than on volcanic soils, and, 

 in fact, rarely quits the " region viadrcporigne." It is sometimes 

 planted in Polynesia near the houses, and both Nadeaud in Tahiti 

 and Cheeseman in Rarotonga consider that it was probably intro- 

 duced into those islands before the arrival of Europeans. The 

 aborigines may have assisted in the dispersal of the genus to 

 a small extent, but from the presence of peculiar species in 

 Hawaii, Samoa, and Fiji it is apparent that the genus is truly 

 indigenous in the Pacific islands, and long antedated their occupa- 

 tion by man. This is also evident from the station of the 

 species in Hawaii, Samoa, and Fiji. In Hawaii they may be 

 found on the dry forehills in the vicinity of the sea-border. In 

 Samoa, as Reinecke informs us, Gardenia tahitensis is very widely 

 spread in the mountain-forests, whilst the endemic species is found 

 thriving in inundated coast districts. In Fiji I found the Gardenias 

 to be especially characteristic (as is also pointed out by Home) of 

 the dry districts on the leeward side of the larger islands. On the 

 rolling " talasinga " or " sun-burnt " plains of the north side of 

 Vanua Levu they thrive in numbers ; and here their leaf-buds and 

 the extremities of the young shoots are often tipped or covered 

 over with an amber-like gum-resin which the natives chew. 



The Mode of Dispersal of the Pacific Gardetiias. — The fruits 

 of this genus are usually described as indehiscent. If this were true 

 of Pacific plants it would be very difficult to explain the dispersal 

 of hard, dry fruits an inch in size over this region. In the case of 

 two or three Fijian species, I paid especial attention to this point 

 by examining the plants in fruit. As exhibited in Fiji the fruits 

 are globose, hard, and almost stony, with persistent adherent calyx, 

 the seeds lying horizontally in a pulp at first firm and subsequently 

 softenincT as the fruit matures. The fruits are not as a rule to 

 be observed opening on the plant ; but they are to be seen 

 dehiscing septicidally on the ground beneath, the detached woody 



