BOTANICAL NOTES. 285 



-ever, he cannot fail to be impressed by the luxuriance and magnifi- 

 cence of the vegetation in this conservatory of ISature. 



Under such conditions the palms flourish. The Caryota, the 

 *' kisu " palm, numerous areca-palms, with the tree-fern, give the 

 character to the lesser vegetation. Huge climbing stems, such as the 

 " droau," the "aligesi" (AleM^ites?), the " nakia " {Uvaria), the 

 " awi-sulu " {Lyonsia) lie in coils on the ground and rising vertically 

 reach the lower branches of the trees some fifty to a hundred feet 

 overhead. The large purple papilionaceous flowers of the " droau " 

 sometimes strew the ground at the bases of the tallest trees. If the 

 forest be situated on a hill-side, the slope is clothed by Selaginellce 

 which often display in the midst of their dark -green foliage pretty 

 bleached fronds that form a striking contrast to the prevailing hue. 

 Mosses, small ferns, and fungi, such as the massive expansions of 

 Polyporus and the more delicate plates of Ilexagona apiaria and 

 others, conceal in some degree the unsightliness of the decaying log. 

 A drapeiy of lycopods and of trailing and climbing ferns, such as 

 Trichoinanes and Lygonia more or less completely invests the lower 

 portions of the trunks of the larger trees. Seventy or eighty feet 

 overhead tlie wide-spreading fronds of the birds-nest fern {Asjnenhnn 

 nidus) appear half-suspended in mid-air, as the}' project from 

 their point of attachment to the tree. Lower down the trunk, the 

 handsome aroid Epipremnum maj' be observed. Epiphytic orchids 

 form no marked feature in this forest-scene, preferring, as they do, 

 those situations where the direct sunlight can reach them, as at the 

 coast and on the sides of ravines. Terrestrial orchids, however, with 

 inconspicuous and sombre-coloured flowers thrive in the gloom and 

 moisture of the forest. 



The larger trees, to which I have not yet referred, often attain 

 a height of 150 feet and over. Here the banyan and more than one 

 species of Canarium including the " ka-i" or Solomon Island Almond 

 tree, together with a liatonia { " nekale "), a Vite.v " ( fasala "), the 

 " katari " {Calophyllum) before mentioned, and numerous ficoid trees 

 known to the natives as the " uri,' che " iliruo," and the "nie," figure 

 amongst the more conspicuous of the forest trees. Many of them 

 possess at the bass of the trunk large buttresses or flanges, which, as 

 in the " tobu," " ilimo," " nie," and " maranato " ( Sapoiacea ? ), may 

 rise twelve to fifteen feet up the trunk and extend some twenty 

 feet away along the ground. Some of the ficoid trees throw off" at 

 a height of from twenty to thirty feet, large flange-like buttresses. 



