30 Director's Annual Report. 
‘‘Of the large number of interesting plants observed or collected 
on this trip, perhaps the most remarkable was lzola mauzensis on 
the slopes of Mauna Loa. This species is known to occur on 
three of the islands, but always in open bogs or in swampy places; 
but here it was growing under the shade of Puu Keawe, Cyathodes 
Tameiamei@, on a dry aa flow at about 7000 feet elevation. 
‘‘While the flora is very uniform, the scenery along the trail 
from Hilo to Puu Oo is most unusual. The river of black pahoe- 
hoe lava is a garden of small ohia trees, low shrubs, cyperacez 
and coarse ferns, dotted by hundreds of islands a few square yards 
to several acres in area, which bear dense woods of tall ohia, tree 
ferns, and other plants, and sometimes large Loulu palms, /P7i?- 
chardia sp., which are often heard before seen, on account of the 
loud rattle and rubbing of their leaves in the wind. The lava 
river is bordered by dense virgin forest composed mostly of tall ohia 
and tree fern. While by no means all of these islands or kipukas 
could be visited in the time allowed for the trip, as far as observed 
their flora and fauna are very uniform. Apparently neither time 
nor isolation has been great enough to produce biological differ- 
ences in these areas isolated by the lava flow. 
‘“‘After the return to Hilo, Mr. L. A. Thurston very kindly 
took me over the Puna section of the Hilo railroad in a power car, 
allowing me to stop at various places along the route to see the 
vegetation. The lava flow of 1840 was visited, this being especially 
interesting as being the first aa flow of known date where higher 
plants are established. This is partly accounted for by the very 
large rainfall in this section, but this flow will need investigation 
in other places. This was an unusual eruption in many ways, and 
there is some indication that much of this slag was old lava borne 
on top of or mixed with the newer lava. At Kapoho we met Mr. 
Henry Lyman who took us over other parts of Puna in his auto- 
mobile, so that I saw a much greater part of this region than I had 
intended this year. 
‘‘As on previous excursions a great deal of kindly help has 
been received from people whom I have been fortunate in meeting. 
Especial thanks for help in various ways are due Messrs. L. A. 
Thurston, W. A. Shipman, Luther Severance and Miss H. Sever- 
arice, Messrs. C. J. Austin, R. T. Guard, Henry Lyman, D: 
Thaanum, H. Dent, W. S. Rycroft, A. W. Carter and Walter C. 
Shields. [146] 
