BOTANICAL NOTES. 289 



am informed by Baron von Mueller, not before recorded from islands 

 «ast of New Guinea.^ A dense growtli of the trailing stems of a 

 Freycinetia and of ferns clothes the rocky sides of the highest peak, 

 which is almost bare of trees. Here however I found a new g-enus 

 of the Pandanaceoe, which, like some other pandanus trees, is 

 known to the natives as "saraiang." It grows to a height of fifty 

 feet, and was only observed by me on the highest peak of the 

 island and for two or three hundred feet below. It has a very 

 conspicuous white "branching female spadix," three to four feet in 

 length ; and I learn from Professor Oliver tliat the same or a near 

 ally of it, though not in a condition to describe, was collected by 

 Signor Beccari in Jobi Island off tlie north-west cuast of New 

 Ouinea. 



J he coast vegetation of the larger is ■and''. . . . It is in the 

 ■coasts of such an island as Treasury or Faro Island, where the 

 strictly littoral and more inland plants become intermingled, that the 

 Solomon Island vegetation in some degree redeems its character. 

 Here the prevailing sombreness and inconspicuous inflorescences give 

 place to bright hues and to a variety of flowers. Here are seen the 

 handsome white flowers of a rubiaceous tree, a species of BikJcia ; 

 the yellowish flowers and bright red fruits of HarpulUa (uipauioides 

 (" koloa ") ; the crimson flowers of an Erythrina (perhaps indica) ; 

 the yellow flowers of Ccesalpinia Nuga ; the large pods of Pongamia 

 glabra ; and the fruits of a wild nutmeg {Myristica, sp.). Hernandia 

 peltata and Clerodendron iiierme may also be here found. The con- 

 spicuous flowers of Hdnscits tiliaceus, 2'hespesia popubiea, and of 

 other littoral trees such as Cerbera Odollam and Guettarda speclosa, 

 add their brightness to the scene. Amongst the foliao;e of the trees 

 twine a species of Ipomcea with handsome white flowers, and here 

 are seen the wax-like flowers of more than one species of asclepiad 

 {Hoya, sp ). Orchids, some of striking beaut}^, hang from the 

 trunks of the trees and form a conspicuous feature in the scene. 

 Among them occur species of Dendrohium, Coelogyne, Clelsosioma, 

 etc. 



The littoral vegetation, as exhibited in a coralisld. . . . I will 

 take the case of one of the many wooded islets that have been formed 

 on the coral reefs by the action of the waves. On the weather side 

 of such an islet, which may be termed its growing edge, the vegeta- 



1 A species of Ophiorrhiza is ia Treasury Island usually associated with tliis Bcijoni i ami 

 is found at all elevations. 



T 



