FLORA VITIENSIS. 263 
lon i a i 1 2 a . ° ‘ * * * e 
gis; vaginarum dentibus 4 triangularibus acutis, raro obtusiusculis carinatis pallido-marginatis 
fie amentis fl. $ plerumque compositis, fl. 9 globosis, bracteolis alte exsertis.—C. verticillata, 
am. Nomina vernac. Vitiensia, “Cau,” “ Caukuro,” et “ Velan.”’—Ovalau, Viti Levu, and other 
Vitian islands (Seemann! n. 571; Sir E. Home! Williams! Graeffe !). Also collected in New Cale- 
donia (Forster! Anderson! Sir E. Home !) 
2, ©. equisetifolia, Forst. Gen, 103. t. 52; Prodr, n. 334, et Icon, (ined.) t. 254; Mig, 
Rey. Cas. p- 43; Parkins. Drawings of Tahit. Plants (ined.), t. 92; ramulis filiformibus strictius- 
culis cinereo-viridulis, 6-8- vulgo 7-angulato-teretibus ; angulis acutiusculis, faciebus subdemissis, 
medio sulco puberulo y. glabro notatis, vaginarum subtumidarum dentibus 6-8 vulgo 7, appressis 
lanceolatis ciliolatis, dorso carinatis, internodiis 5-8 mm. longis; amentis fl. ¢ ramulos terminantibus 
v. ad ramos sessilibus, teretiusculis, adultis sursum subclavatim incrassatis pallescentibus, vaginis 
imbricatis in dentes 6-7-8 lanceolatos partitis, pubescentibus; amentis fl. 9 lateralibus breviter pe- 
dunculatis, maturis ellipsoideis, bracteis bracteolisque pubescentibus, his ellipticis acutis exsertis. 
—C. littorea, Rumph, Amb. vol. iii. p. 86, t. 57, C. Africana, Lour. Fl. Cochinch, vol. ii. p, 670. 
C. muricata, Roxb. Fl. Ind. vol. iii, p. 519.  C. Jateriflora, Lam. C. littoralis, Salish. Nomen 
vernac. Vitiense, ‘ Nokonoko ;” Tahitense, “Toa” v. “ Aito.’—Common on the smaller and the 
coasts of the larger Vitian islands; occasionally planted over tombs of chiefs of rank (Seemann ! 
n. 570; Williams!). Also collected in the Marquesas (Barclay !), Society (Banks and Solander! 
Forster!), and Tongan Islands (Sir E, Home!), as well as in the Isle of Pines off New Caledonia 
(Sir E. Home!), Widely spread over New Holland, India, and the Archipelago, Madagascar, and 
tropical Africa. 
This tree is most frequent in the eastern parts of the group, its prevalence indicating a poor soil. Tts 
sombre aspect, and the wailing sound caused by the playing of the breezes in the branches, forcibly appeal to 
. the poetical sentiment; aud hence the Nokonoko is planted in masses about tombs; a fine grove of that kind 
is seen at Lakeba, surrounding the burial-place of a departed chief. The young branches are drooping, im- 
parting to the tree a peculiarly graceful look, and forming a beautiful contrast to the erect and rigid growth 
of its congener, the Velau (Casuarina nodiflora, Forst.), which is occasionally met with in its company, and 
also yields a useful timber. Whilst the Nokonoko assumes a more or less pyramidal form, is scarcely ever 
higher than forty feet, and has a greyish hue, the Velau is often sixty feet and even more in height and 
three feet in diameter, and has a green mossy-looking crown, which, by its flatness on the top, reminds one 
of the Stone-pine so characteristic of the Italian landscape. The Velau almost invariably grows in good 
soil, generally in mixed forests; whilst the Nokonoko shuns, as it were, a close contact with other kinds of 
trees, and it scarcely eyer associates with any but the Balawa or Screw-pine (Pandanus odoratissumus, 
Linn.). 
Orxpo XC. CONIFER. 
Representatives of all the genera of Conifere of tropical Polynesia have been met with in Viti except 
Avaucaria, of which one species (A. excelsa, KR. Brown) occurs in Norfolk Island (Backhouse! Patterson !), 
one (A. Cookii, R. Brown) in the Isle of Pines, off New Caledonia (W. Anderson !, anno 1774, Sir E. Home!), 
and in New Caledonia (Strange !), and a third (A. swbwlata, Vieillard) in New Caledonia. 
I. Dammara, Rumph. Herb. Amb. vol. ii. p. 174; Endl. Conif. p. 188. Flores dioici, Amenta 
d axillaria v. extra-axillaria, cylindrica, basi perulata. Stamina oo, axi inserta, imbricata; filamenta 
brevissima, horizontalia, in connectivum crassum cuneatum v. orbiculatum produeta ; antherze loculi 
nune 5 v. 6 uniseriati, nunc 6 ad 15 biseriati, e connectivi basi penduli, cylindrici, filamento paralleli 
et zquilongi, postice longitudinaliter dehiscentes. Fl. 2 : Amenta terminalia, solitaria v. gemina. 
Squamz oo, ebracteatee, axi insertee, dense imbricate, apicem versus seusim crassiores. Ovula sub 
*) . 
2mu 2 
