APPENDIX 553, 



NOTE 29 (page 54) 

 Botanical Notes on the Coast-plants of the Hawaiian Islands 



[The following remarks have been extracted from my journals and repre- 

 sent some of the field-notes of journeys made in the more interesting 

 localities.] 



(i) Walk along the Puna Coast, Bdwaii, from Punaluu toIIilo(Dec. 26, 

 1896, to Jan. 6, 1897). — For the first two to three miles to Kamehame 

 Point, the following plants were noticed on the flows of smooth ropy lava 

 that formed the cliff-bound coast — Capparis sandwichiana, Jacquemontia 

 sandwicensis, Ipomea insularis, Lipoch^ta lavarum, Portulaca villosa, 

 Tephrosia piscatoria, Tribulus cistoides, Waltheria americana, &c. Beyond 

 this point Scsevola Koenigii was abundant in places on the old lava-flows 

 near the sea, and further on patches of Myoporum sandwicense growing, 

 not as a tree 20 to 30 feet high, as in the mountains, but as a prostrate 

 shrub with fleshy leaves. Vegetation similar to that above described 

 occurred on the surface of the old lava-flows that constituted the cliff- 

 bound sea-border as far as Kapapala Bay. On the sandy beach at Kapapala 

 Bay grew Ipomea pes capras, serving as host to Cuscuta sandwichiana. In 

 the vicinity of the house at Keauhou there were a few Coco palms and 

 Pandanus trees, whilst Capparis sandwichiana and Morinda citrifolia were 

 growing on the adjacent lava-fields. 



Morinda citrifolia and Tephrosia piscatoria grew on the lava flows, 

 between Keauhou and Apua. On the beach at Apua, Ipomea pes caprae 

 and Scaevola Koenigii were abundant, the last extending a few hundred 

 yards inland on the lava. Further east the inland bush, made up of 

 Cyathodes tameiameiae, Metrosideros polymorpha, &c., descended to the 

 coast to within a few hundred yards of the sea. In crossing the lava coast 

 plains to Kapa-ahu I observed Morinda citrifolia growing frequently out of 

 the cracks in the bare lava-rock, and an occasional solitary tree of Erythrina 

 monosperma growing also from the fissures. 



Before reaching Kapa-ahu we passed the site of an old coast village, 

 named Laepuki, where there were growing from forty to fifty Coco-nut palms,, 

 as well as another village, represented by a solitary house, and named 

 Kamomoa, where there were 27 Coco-nut palms and a few Pandanus 

 trees. Kapa-ahu, with its numerous Coco-nut palms, was more like a South 

 Sea coast village than any before seen ; and the coast vegetation suddenly- 

 acquired a South Pacific character. 



At Pulama, for instance, about a mile west of Kapa-ahu, where the 

 ancient lava-flows, fairly vegetated, terminate at the sea in cliffs 20 or 

 25 feet high, there is a curious and quite unexpected development of a 

 littoral flora such as we should see in the South Pacific. Here, growing 

 on the broken lava surface at the brink of the cliffs and overlooking the 

 sea, thrive Csesalpinia Bonducella, Cocos nucifera, Ipomea pes caprae,. 



