B06 
ISLAND LIFE. 
[part ii. 
Horace Mann, and of Dr. Pickering, who accompanied the 
United States Exploring Expedition. 
Considering their extreme isolation, their uniform volcanic 
soil, and the large proportion of the chief island which consists 
of barren lava-fields, the flora of the Sandwich Islands is ex- 
tremely rich, consisting, so far as at present known, of 554 
species of flowering plants and 135 ferns. This is considerably 
richer than the Azores (439 Phanerogams and 39 ferns), which 
though less extensive are far better known, or than the Gala- 
pagos (332 Phanerogams), which- are more strictly comparable, 
being equally volcanic, while their somewhat smaller area may 
perhaps be compensated by their proximity. to the American 
continent. Even New Zealand with more than twenty times 
the area of the Sandwich group, whose soil and climate 
are much more varied, and whose botany has been thoroughly 
explored, has not double the number of flowering plants 
(935 species), while in ferns it is barely equal. 
Peculiar Features of the Flora . — This rich insular flora is won- 
derfully peculiar, for if we deduct sixty-nine species, which are 
believed to have been introduced by man, there remain 620 
species of which 377, or more than three-fifths, are quite peculiar 
to the islands. There are no less than 39 peculiar genera out of 
a total of 253, and these 39 genera comprise 153 species, so that 
the most isolated forms are those which most abound and thus 
give a special character to the flora. Besides these peculiar 
types, several genera of wide range are here represented by 
highly peculiar species. Such are Lobelia, the Hawaiian species 
of which are woody shrubs from six to twenty feet high, one 
even being a tree, reaching a height of forty feet. Shrubby 
geraniums fifteen feet high grow as epiphytes on forest trees, as 
do some Vacciniums and Epacrids. Violets, and plantains also 
form tall shrubby plants, and there are many strange arborescent 
composite, as in other oceanic islands. 
The affinities of the flora generally are very wide. Although 
there are many Polynesian groups, yet Australian, New Zealand, 
and American forms are equally represented. Dr. Pickering 
notes the total absence of a large number of families found in 
Southern Polynesia, such as Dilleniacese, Anonacese, Olacacese, 
