34 



P. isachnoides are three of the commonest species. Other char- 

 acteristic genera found in the bogs are Schizaea, Selaginella, 

 Viola, Lobelia, and Argyroxyphium. 



The Hawaiians originally made considerable use of plants 

 and of their products for food, clothing, dyestuffs, medicines, 

 etc., and possessed much knowledge regarding plants and 

 their products. They knew and named the plants which they 

 found or used and in many instances employed a form of bi- 

 nomial nomenclature. 



A number of species of economic importance now cultivated 

 or well established, especially in the fertile valleys originally in- 

 habited by the natives, were probably of very early introduc- 

 tion. Among the commonest and more important species are the 

 sugar-cane, banana, coconut* awa (Piper methysticum) from the 

 root of which a medicine and an intoxicating beverage were pro- 

 duced, taro {Caladium colocasia) from the rootstock of which 

 poi, one of the principal foods of the natives is obtained, bread- 

 fruit, wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera) which furnished the bark 

 from which the bark cloth known as tapa or kapa was manufac- 

 tured, and noni (Morinda citrifolia) which furnished dyestuffs 

 for tapa cloth and also was useful in preparing a beverage and 

 medicines. 



The weedy species observed along the roadsides and in the 

 fields and pastures have gained entrance mostly as stowaways 

 and have come from many different parts of the world. To the 

 visitor from midwestern America such plants as Cenchrus 

 echinatus, Rumex acetosella, R. crispus, Portulaca oleracea, Pru- 

 nella vulgaris, Solatium nigrum, Erigeron canadensis , Leontodon 

 taraxacum, and Sonchus oleraceus are a few plants he can recog- 

 nize in an otherwise almost wholly alien flora. Some species pur- 

 posefully introduced have also become pernicious weeds. A not- 

 able example is the lantana {Lantana camara) which was intro- 

 duced many years ago for the decorative value of its flowers. 

 The seeds are scattered by the introduced myna bird and the 

 bushes now occupy large areas of land thus destroying its use- 

 fulness for grazing or other purposes. Strenuous and more or less 

 successful efforts have been made by entomologists and botan- 

 ists to introduce natural insect or fungous enemies in an at- 

 tempt to control or destroy the plants. Another introduced 

 plant which has spread and become a nuisance as a weed in pas- 



