CHAPTER VII 



THE HAWAIIAN STRAND-FLORA 



Its poverty. — Its negative features. — Their explanation. — The subordinate part 

 taken by the currents. — The Oregon drift. — The inland extension of the 

 beach plants. — Summary. 



Compared with the rich strand-flora of Fiji, that of Hawaii 

 presents but a sorry aspect. In the number of species (30) it does 

 not amount to half; whilst it lacks the great mangrove-formation 

 and the luxuriant vegetation accompanying it that gives so much 

 character to the shores and estuaries of Fiji. Strangely enough, it 

 is also deprived of most of the familiar trees that, whether in 

 foliage, in flower, or in fruit, form the chief attraction of the sandy 

 beaches of the Pacific islands. 



Neither the mangroves, therefore, nor the plants of the inter- 

 mediate formation, are to be found in Hawaii ; and when we 

 reflect that the absentees from the beach formation include most of 

 the trees, under the shade of which the visitor to the Pacific islands 

 can nearly always find protection from the fierce rays of a tropical 

 sun, it cannot be a matter of surprise that this littoral flora has 

 such a poverty-stricken appearance. We look in vain for such 

 shady beach trees as Barringtonia speciosa, Terminalia Katappa, 

 and Hernandia peltata ; and we are lucky if we find some small 

 trees under which we can obtain a scanty shade. 



I have been speaking, of course, of the indigenous shore-plants, 

 those that have arrived at these islands without the assistance of 

 man. Yet it must be added that the existing littoral flora does 

 include some of the missing indigenous trees, though rarely in any 

 number. There is, however, scarcely one of them that is regarded 

 by Dr. Hillebrand as having formed part of the original flora. 

 That botanist would indeed rob the present beach flora, scanty as 

 it is, of most of its conspicuous plants, as far as their claims to be 



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