AFRO-INDIAN REGIONS. 



281 



branches of unusual length, spreading outwards ten or twelve feet 

 in every direction, so as to be sometimes mistaken in the forest for a 

 tree-top. — Epideiidric jJ^'-ods were in great variety and luxuriance : 

 especially Ferns, very generally differing from the Taheitian species ; 

 as also the epidendric Orchldacece, which, though not abundant, were 

 in greater variety than at Taheiti, and chiefly occurred in situations 

 exposed to the sun, often even on cultivated trees in the clearings; a 

 Peperomia was everywhere frequent on the trunks and branches of 

 trees. 



The trunks of the trees, were besides conspicuously invested with 

 certain vine-like plants ; as the scandent Freycinetki already mentioned, 

 and two or three species of Pathos. 



On the other hand, the woods, especially on Savaii, presented in 

 the distance a peculiar stringy aspect, from the profusion of tall- 

 climbing vines: as Convolvidi of various species; Dioscoreas ; a gen. 

 Cijnanclioid ; two or three Hoyas ; a iJ/«c?«2or, overspreading the tallest 

 trees; and other vines of various affinity, some woody-stemmed, and 

 others herbaceous. 



Of trees below the medium size, the following may be enumerated 

 as frequent : Diospyros ; two species of Myristica, ov wild nutmeg, 

 presenting no marked peculiarity of aspect, although the branches 

 are given out in whorls at regular intervals, as in young spruces; a 

 iVaitcZm, sometimes tliirty feet high, with the trunk eighteen inclies in 

 diameter; a Ce/^w- becoming a long-branched tree ; two Pwcris-Iike 

 trees; and on mountain-ridges, a Maha, Glocltidmm, gen. Myrtac. with 

 corymbose flowers, and gen. Ceanothoid, all four frequent. 



Among the more frequent shrubs, many of them arborescent, the 

 following may be enumerated : three or four species of Alyxia ; various 

 Coffeacece, including a congener of the Taheitian C. triflora; one or more 

 shrubby Urticeoi ; a Dendrolohi am or arborescent Desmodium, some- 

 times twenty feet high ; a dicoccous Omedantlias ?, eight to twelve feet 

 high, abounding on Manua and Tutuila; Ricinus? Icmarius, thick- 

 stemmed and subherbaceous, though ten to twenty feet high ; Barring- 

 fonia racemosa, a large, weak-stemmed shrub, remarkable for its very 

 long, pendulous racemes; MeJastoma Malahatluica, as on Taheiti; Cor- 

 dia? aspera, ten to fifteen feet high, with inconspicuous flowers; various 

 species of Cyrtandra ; a Mcesa?, abundant; a Daphne, and three other 

 Tltymeleaeeous shrubs, one of them arborescent; Premna, frequent 

 in the vicinity of the sea; a Clerodendron, four to six feet high, 



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