4o6 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC chap. 



also been found at Penang and Singapore, as well as in Borneo, 

 Java, and Queensland, In Samoa, as we learn from Reinecke, it 

 grows both in the coast swamps and on dry ground. In Fiji it is 

 very common in the mangrove-swamps at the mouths of rivers, 

 especially in the Lower Rewa ; but in Vanua Levu it is also 

 frequent in the marshy localities of inland plateaux, 700 to 800 

 feet above the sea, as well as by the side of streams in swampy 

 districts on the lower hill slopes. This double station in the 

 salt-water swamp of the coast and in the fresh-water marsh of the 

 interior seems to be repeated in Java, where the plant was first 

 discovered by Zippelius on the banks of torrents in mountainous 

 regions and in swampy places. 



The genus comprises, according to the Index Kewejtsis, only 

 this species, though variations are to be observed in plants from 

 different localities. The species was described by Kurz in the 

 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. 38, 1869) and by 

 Bentham in his Flora Aiistraliensis \ and an illustration is given by 

 Miquel in his Illustrations de la Flore de VArchipel Indien (1871). 

 The plant is so common in Fiji that one can only suppose that 

 its resemblance to a stemless Pandanus, from which, as Kurz 

 observes, it is with difficulty distinguished except when in flower 

 or fruit, led to its being overlooked by both Seemann and Home. 

 Its leaves, from 9 to 12 feet in length, are commonly used for 

 making mats and for thatching, both in Fiji and Samoa. The 

 plant usually attains a height of 3 to 5 feet. 



The fruits occur abundantly in the floating and stranded river 

 and sea drift in Fiji, a circumstance that led to my discovery of 

 the parent plant in the swamps. The fruit, which is about half an 

 inch (12 mm.) long, consists of a hard, stony nut invested by a 

 thick ribbed cork-like covering, to which it owes its buoyancy, 

 since the nut sinks. The detached fruit is perforated at the base 

 through both coverings, and only a little soft tissue closes the 

 aperture in the inner shell, the protection against the entry of 

 sea-water in the case of floating fruits being quite inadequate. 

 This explains also why the stranded fruits were so frequently 

 found by me germinating on the beach, where, as my observ^ations 

 showed, they never established the plant. This early germination 

 would prove to be an advantage in the case of fruits stranded in a 

 suitable locality. 



But though the perforation in the fruit favours its early 

 germination, it lessens its ability to withstand a long sea-passage 

 without injury to the embryo. I found in different experiments on 



