Memoirs Boniicc P. Bishop Miiscimi. 



PART I.— DISTRIBUTION AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



General Discussion. 



By Ol'daruu Ukccaui. 

 DISTRIBUTION. 



THIS fine group of palms, of which up to a quite recent date but few repre- 

 sentatives were known, now numbers thirty-one well characterized species 

 and some very distinct varieties. 



This great increase in the number of known species of Pritcliardia, is chiefly 

 due to the recent discoveries of Professor Joseph F. Rock of the College of Hawaii, 

 who has carefully explored the islands composing the Hawaiian groui), in search of 

 their indigenous palms and has been extraordinarilv successful in discovering a 

 large number of new and fine species, of each of which he has taken special care 

 both to collect and prei)are comidcte sitecimens in Hower and in fruit. 



This material, generously placed at my disposal by Professor Rock, forms 

 the principal basis of the present monograph. 



The Pritchardias constitute one of the most characteristic genera of palms 

 belonging to the Polynesian Flora, which, with some of its scattered members, 

 occupies a very extensive geographical area in the islands of the Pacific, but has 

 attained its greatest development in the Hawaiian archipelago. With the exception 

 of Pritcliardia, no other genus of palms occurs in Plawaii, although the western 

 Polynesian islands contain a good number of others. 



The Pritchardias first described were Pr. Martii and Pr. Gaitdichaudii, both 

 from Hawaii, and were considered as belonging to the genus Livistoiui. The 

 generic name Pritcliardia was afterwards established for a palm growing in the 

 Fiji Islands, Pr. pacifica, and it was later discovered that Lii'istona Martii and 

 L. Gaitdichaudii were referable to the genus Pritchardia of which Pr. pacifica is 

 the type. Another Pritcliardia, Pr. Thiirstoiiii. was also found in Fiji. Perhaps 

 some other palms akin to these are living in the archipelagos nearest to Fiji. Two 

 species have, been found in the distant Dangerous Archipelago {Pr. I'liylstckcana 

 and Pr. pcriculariiiii ), but at least twenty-three well distinguished species, that is 

 74 per cent of all the genus are endemic in the Hawaiian group. A very charac- 

 teristic Pritcliardia, Pr. JJ'rightii, has found its way into the new world. This is 

 one of the most extraordinary facts known of geographical distribution of palms, 

 comparable to the presence in America of a Rai)hia, but even more to that of the 

 characteristic Coccinea in Snuth Africa, the .liihacopsis Cal'fra. 



Pritchardia JP right ii is a palm which grows only in Cuba and near the 

 southern coast of the little Isla de Pinos. This i)alni, although distinguished among 



