was, however, observed by the writer on the lava fields of Auahi, southern slopes 

 of Mt. Haleakala, at an elevation of 2000 feet. Naturally the species was not 

 stunted but developed to a fine looking tree ; only a single tree was found at the 

 lower level, while at 8000 feet it is not uncommon, especially at the very head 

 of Waikamoi or Honomanu gulch. 



The Compositae form quite a large part of the vegetation of the upper forest 

 zone and are most numerously represented on Haleakala. 



The mountains which possess an tipper forest flora are, according to age, 

 Haleakala (10,030 feet), Maui; Mauna Kea (13,873 feet), Hualalai (8273 feet), 

 and Mauna Loa, the youngest, (13,675 feet), Hawaii. All four mountains are 

 volcanoes, three of them extinct, while Mauna Loa becomes still periodically 

 active. 



Haleakala is entirely different in formation from the other mountains ; it has 

 a summit crater of huge dimensions having a circumference of nearly 23 miles, 

 is 2000 feet deep, and is covered at the bottom with numerous cinder cones, of 

 which the highest is 1030 feet. 



The crater has two outlets, one on the north side called Koolau gap, and an- 

 other on the southern side called Kaupo gap. The former gap is, up to an ele- 

 vation of 6000 feet, an impenetrable tropical jungle, while the latter is compara- 

 tively dry and covered with more or less scrub vegetation. The largest portion 

 of the crater is bare of vegetation, being composed mainly of extensive aa 

 (rough) lava flows and huge fields of black volcanic ash; it is in the latter that 

 the most beautiful Argyroxiphium sandwicense var. macrocephalum (Ahinahina 

 or Silversword) thrives best. They still occur in thousands in Haleakala crater, 

 but are indeed very scarce on Mauna Kea, and more so on Mauna Loa and Hua- 

 lalai. The steep slopes in the upper part of Kaupo gap are covered with this 

 most beautiful plant (see Plate XXV), which flowers from July to October. 

 Wild goats are doing great damage to it, as they devour it eagerly, and so also 

 do cattle, the arch-enemy of the Hawaiian forests. In earlier days this interest- 

 ing plant was also found plentifully on the slopes of the mountain, but it has 

 now vanished since tourists began to ascend to the mountain summit. 



Raillardia platyphylla, a shrubby composite, is quite gregarious along dry 

 streambeds, especially along the upper part of Waikamoi near Puunianiau crater, 

 while R. Menziesii grows as a tree at 6000 feet elevation and becomes a common 

 shrub at 9000 feet near the summit. Of great interest is the green sword-plant, 

 Argyroxiphium virescens, which is peculiar to Haleakala and found together 

 with the plants just mentioned. It usually grows on the edges of cliffs in com- 

 pany with the silversword, and is especially common near the base of Puunianiau 

 crater. It has been observed in the crater of Haleakala itself, but not on the ash 

 fields, as its congener, but in Kaupo gap along dry streambeds between rocks, 

 together with Lobelia Jiypoleuca var., Duhautia plantaginea var., Raillardia 

 sp., etc. 



Vaccinium reticulatum (Ohelo), with its delicious berries, covers the moun- 



81 



