30 Memoirs Bcrnice P. Bishop Muscu 



m. 



Habitat. — The species of Pritchardia occurring in the Fiji Islands at 

 Vanua Levu and at Y\\\ Levu (Seemann Xo. 659 in the Herbarium at Kew — type 

 specimen) must be considered the true Pr. pacifica. Native names "\^iu," "Sakiki," 

 or "Niu Masei." It is reported, however, to grow also in the Samoan Islands 

 and in Eua. one of the islands of the Tonga or Friendly group. 



The Samoan Pritchardia I have hitherto considered as representing a 

 distinct variety of Pr. pacifica, but it is apparently a plant introduced into those 

 Islands. 



Of the Pritchardia from the Tonga Islands I have seen no specimens. 



J. J. Lister in Hemsley on the "Flora of the Tonga and Friendly Islands" 

 (Journ Linn. Soc. Botany, vol. XXX, 1893, p. 162) says that in Eua, along the 

 eastern shore, the "Piu" or "Biu Palms" {Pritchardia pacifica) with their great 

 fan leaves, are very handsome objects. The trees are generallv very high, running 

 to about 60 to 80 feet ( 18 to 24 m. ). In the same paper are mentioned also the 

 Marquesas Islands as another locality for Pr. pacifica. a statement which I greatly 

 doubt, considering the precinctivity of the different species of Pritchardia. 



A Pritchardia from the Tonga Islands is mentioned also by J- H. Burkill 

 in "The Flora of \'avau, One of the Tonga Islands" (Journ. Linn. Soc. Botany, 

 vol. XXXV, 1901, p. 57 ) and is referred also to Pr. pacifica. 



Obscrivtions. — T am indebted to Professor J. F. Rock for complete speci- 

 mens of this palm derived from plants cultivated at Honolulu in the Hawaiian 

 Islands ; which specimens, as far as the flowers and fruits are concerned, corre- 

 spond exactly to Seemann's Xo. 659 of the Kew Herbarium. The portion of the 

 leaf which accompanies the flowers and fruits of Rock's specimen, shows no lepidia 

 on the lower surface: whereas the leaf that T have described in \\'ebbia IV 

 (1913) 210 as that of Pr. pacifica had rather numerous elliptical appressed 

 lepidia: but that leaf was from a plant cultivated at Herrenhausen, and there 

 is no absolute certaintv of its belonging to the true Fijian Pritchardia pacifica. 

 It is possible, however, that the nature and quantity of the leaf-trichomes may vary 

 according to the different conditions of environment and culture. I consider there- 

 fore as one of the main characteristics of Pr. pacifica. the quite glabrous leaf- 

 blade, even on the dorsum of the main costae, and the absence of the lepidia on 

 its lower surface. Pr. pacifica is also characterized by the spadices being shorter 

 than the petioles, by the slender floriferous branchlets and by the small round 

 fruit, and small fruiting perianth. 



Pritchardia Pacifica var. Samoensis Becc. in \\'ebbia R' (1913). 206 and 212. 



Description. — Flowers smaller than in the Fijian plant : the fruit of the 

 same dimensions but with a thicker pericarp. 



Habitat. — The Samoan Islands (S. Powell in the Kew Herbarium) 

 According to Rechinger (Botan. u. zool. Ergebnisse einer \\''iss. Forschungsreise 



