134 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



There are half-a-dozen Lysimachias, of which all but one 

 have large conspicuous purplish floAvers. These grow singly 

 in the axils. The plants are low or tall shrubs, varying in 

 stature from one to eight feet. L. spathulata, with greenish- 

 yellow flowers, grows along the sea-shore ; the others are 

 characteristic of the valleys, ravines, ridges, and bogs of the 

 rain forest zone, and ascend to an elevation of five thousand 

 feet. L. daplinoides, the kolo-kolo kua-hiz^'i, "mountain 

 creeper" of the natives, is one of the beautiful-flowered plants 

 of the famous summit swamps of Mount Wai-ale-ale of Kauai. 

 The purple blue flowers are large and fragrant, and stand out 

 showily among the thick, leathery, dark-green leaves. 



A distinctively Hawaiian flower of rare charm is the na- 

 tive begonia, HUlehrandia Sandzcicciisis. The genus is en- 

 demic; there is but the single species, and the natives call it 

 pua-niaka-nui, the big-eyed flower. Few people, either natives 

 or whites, have seen this lovely plant, as it grows only in deep 

 shady ravines and glens in the rain forest, and on the almost 

 inaccessible faces of exposed rainy precipices. The succulent 

 stems rise from a tuberous rhizome to a height of two to flve 

 feet. The leaves are borne on petioles of two to six inches: 

 the leaf blade is four to eight inches in diameter, and irregu- 

 larly five to nine lobed. The many-flowered corymb arises 

 from the axil of the uppermost leaf, and is four to eig"ht inches 

 long, bearing a profusion of brilliant pink or rose colored 

 flowers. The plant as a whole is very attractive and shows 

 real horticultural merit. 



The Hawaiian Gardenias are noteworthy among the beau- 

 tiful wild flower.s of the archipelago. Both of the two endemic 

 species, Brighamia and Rernyi, have an abundance of large, 

 fragrant white flowers. Brigham's gardenia is a shrub of six 

 to twelve feet, with shining dark-green leaves. It inhabits arid 

 leeward slopes and ridges. Remy's gardenia is rare, and 

 occurs scatteringly in moister habitats than the other. It is a 



