132 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



heads are yellow, and form conspicuous masses of golden 

 bloom. The bright patches of yellow that adorn the dripping 

 mountain trails and ledges, and that soften the harshness of 

 the dry rocky coastal regions, are generally one of these spe- 

 cies. There are also a dozen native Rcdllardias, mostly high- 

 mountain shrubs and trees, which are covered with yellow 

 flowers during their blooming seasons. 



Hawaii's most famous plant is undoubtedly the silver 

 sword (Argyro'siphium Sandwicense) . The name refers to 

 the basal cluster of closely packed, long, curved, dagger-shaped 

 leaves, which are densely covered with beautiful lustrous 

 silvery-white appressed hairs. The Hawaiians call this plant 

 ahina-hina, which means silvery gray. This remarkable plant 

 is confined tO' xerophytic habitats on the high mountains of 

 Maui and Hawaii. At flowering time the stem elongates into 

 a showy foliose raceme four to eight feet high, with a pro- 

 fusion of large floral heads. The disks are yellow, the rays 

 are dark rose-purple. The spectacular beauty of this plant, 

 both in its vegetative condition, and when in full flower, is a 

 frequent theme for eulogy in the tourist literature of Hawaii. 



The great volcanic mountain of Hale-a-ka-la, home of the 

 Silver Sword, is girdled at an elevation of two to three thou- 

 sand feet above the sea with a dense belt of a bright flowered 

 endemic mint, the paliaka (Sphacele hastaia ) _ This is a 

 herbaceous perennial of three to five feet in height, covered 

 with sticky tomentum, and emitting a heavy menthene odor. 

 The hastate leaves are six to nine inches long by two to four 

 inches broad, and are thick papery in texture. The flowers are 

 clustered in showy terminal panicles. The purple red corolla 

 is an inch long, scarcely bilabiate. The strong odor and con- 

 spicuous blossoms of the pahaka are familiar to all who have 

 tramped over the dreary and rugged waste-lands of Hale-a- 

 ka-la's leeward slopes. 



