llll PHANEROGAMS OF EASTER ISLAND 73 



It is of course not at all certain, that this belongs to the original flora 

 of the island, the more as the tradition, also ([noted by FUENTES, tells that it 

 was introduced by the first settlers, long before the discovery of the island by 

 the Dutch. However, its faculty for dispersal with the ocean currents is a well 

 known fact, so that nothing prevents us from believing that it reached East e I 

 Island without human aid. According to GUPPY, Observations of a naturalist 

 in the Pacific II, the seeds of inland stations have lost their buoyancy. FUEN- 

 TES states that C. bonduc is on the verge of extinction in the island; I can 

 neither confirm nor deny this. It is not in cultivation - - if it ever was - , 

 and no plants were found along the sea shore. 



GuiTY (1. c. p. 185) gives a good summary of the two generally re- 

 cognized species C. bonduc and bonducella\ he has found intermediate forms and 

 comes to the conclusion that all may belong to one complex taxonomic unity. 

 The Easter Island plant is no » typical* bonduc. In the size of its flowers it 

 agrees with this and it has no trace of stipules. But the leaflets are not un- 

 equal at the base, as has been stated for C. bonduc (comp. GRISEBACH, Mora 

 Brit. W. Ind. Isl. p. 204), but equal as in bonducella. According to HELLER, 

 Plants of the Hawaiian Islands (Minn. Bot. Stud. 1897, p 831), C. bonduc is 

 glabrous and has broader, blunt leaflets, while C. bonducella is pubescent, with 

 comparatively narrow and acute leaflets. The leaflets in my plant answer 

 better to Heller's C. bonduc, but they are clearly pubescent. Bracts are 

 totally absent, even with the young buds. The colour of the seed is greyish 

 as in bonducella, not yellowish as in bonduc, but GUPPY shows that this char- 

 acter is not a reliable one, and TklMEN, Fl. Ceylon II p. 98 calls the seeds 

 of C. bonduc greyish green, which answers well to the observations of the pre- 

 sent writer. 



Area of distribution: Trop. Asia, Austral., Polyn. 



Sophora L. 



22. S. (Edvvardsia) toromiro (R. A. Phil.) Skottsb. — Edzvardsia toro- 

 miro R. A. Philippi, Bot. Zeit. 1873 p. JZ7\ $• tetraptera auctt. non J. Mill, nee 

 Ait. — Plate 9; Text fig. 2 a- c. 



Crater of Rano Kao, very rare on the steep slope, only one small tree 

 seen by us, growing between large boulders (no. 688; also reported from this 

 locality by Fuentes 1. a). 



Edzvardsia toromiro of PlIILIPPl is hardly more than a name, as no de- 

 scription ever appeared; it was characterized by PHILIPPI as possessing a wood 

 different from that of the Chilean species, which generally goes under the name 

 5. tetraptera. FUENTES did not consider the Easter Island plant to be a separate 

 species. A description follows. 



Arbor pumila (specimen unicum ab auctore visum 190 cm altum), tor- 

 tuosa; cortex junior saltern rufo-brunneus, longitudinaliter sulcatus. F'olia ver- 

 sus apices ramulorum conferta, plerumque 40—55 mm longa, 8 — 9- (rarius 

 ad 12) paria, rhachide tenui dense albosericea; foliola brevissime stipitata, 

 stipite albo-sericeo, ovato-elliptica (sed foliolum terminale plerumque subobo- 



