THE GRASSES OF HAWAII 



By a. S. Hitchcock. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In 1906 I made a trip to the Hawaiian islands for the purpose of studying 

 the grasses. All the main islands of the group were visited except Niihau'and 

 barren, windswept Kahoolawe, now uninhabited. This paper is an account of the 

 grass flora, based upon the collections made at that time and on a study of all other 

 accessible collections from the Hawaiian islands, including those made by Pro- 

 fessor J. F. Rock of the College of Hawaii, Mr. C. N. Forbes of the Bishop 

 Museum. Abbe Faurie, A. A. Heller, Mann and Brigham, and the Wilkes Exploring 

 Expedition. Specimens given b}' Brother Matthias Newell of Hilo and by Mr. G. 

 C. Munro of Lanai were examined; the original set of Mann and Brigham, at the 

 herbarium of the Botanical Department of Cornell University, was consulted and 

 also the set of Wilkes Expedition grasses at the Gray Herbarium. All specimens 

 cited are in the United States National Herbarium, except when otherwise stated. 



The text figures in this paper, except sixteen from early bulletins of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, are from original drawings made by Mrs. 

 Mary AA^right Gill. As indicated in the legends several of the figures have already 

 appeared in various Government publications. Acknowledgment is made to the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry and to the Smithsonian Institution for the use of cuts 

 and drawings. 



Maps have not been included in the illustrations. For the position of 

 geographic features mentioned in this report the following maps may be consulted : 

 for Oahu and for Kauai, the topographic maps issued by the United States Geolog- 

 ical Survey; for Hawaii, Molokai, and ]\Iaui, maps issued by the Territorial Sur- 

 \ey. The position of the islands and their chief topographic features are well 

 shown on Chart No. 4102 of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



GENERAL DISCUSSION. 



ECOLOGICAIv AREAS. 



The indigenous flora of the Hawaiian islands, though comparatively meager 

 on account of the geographic position of the group in a vast expanse of surrounding 

 ocean, is of great interest because of the isolation. The influence of geographic 

 features and climate on the vegetation of the islands has been considered in the 

 reports' that have been already published of the 1916 trip, and the general floral 



'Hitchcock, A. S., (i) Botanical explorations in the Hawaiian Islands: Smithsonian Misc. Coll. Vol.66, 

 no. 17, pp. 59-73, figs. 61-77, 1917; (2) A botanical trip to the Hawaiian Islands: Sci. Monthly, Vol. S, 

 Oct. and Nov., pp. 323-349, 419-432, figs. 1-43, may I, 1917; (3) Floral aspects of the Hawaiian Islands: 

 Smithsonian Rept. for 1917, pp. 449-462, pis. 1-25, 1919. 



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