150 
Ferns and flowering plants of Hawaii National Park* 
The author states that the purpose of the book “is to meet 
the need of visitors to Hawaii National Park who have had 
little or no formal botanical training, yet who wish to know the 
most interesting facts about local ferns and flowering plants, 
particularly in relationship to ancient Hawaiian customs.” Fol- 
lowing a very brief geological history is a short account of the 
origin of the Hawaiian flora, emphasizing the tragic results of 
the introduction of domestic animals and the escape of intro- 
duced plants. Most of the book is taken up with the description 
of the more common and striking plants of the park or of the 
roadsides leading to it, from the lycopodiums up. The de- 
scriptions are accompanied by excellent full page cuts. With 
the descriptions are accounts of the uses made of the plants by 
the people in olden times—of the making of grass huts and out- 
rigger canoes, of mats and tapa cloth, of poi and candle-nut oil, 
of ceremonies connected with the hula, of kapus and legends. In 
addition there are good accounts of the sugar, coffee and pine- 
apple industries. The book should add greatly to the interest 
and profit of a visit to the park by both botanists and those with 
no botanical training. 
G. T. HASTINGS 
* Ferns and flowering plants of Hawaii National Park, Otto Degener 
XV +308 pages. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1930, $4.00. 
