Flora of the Hawaiian Islands

Abstract

THE Sandwich Islands, from a botanical point of view, are a group of peculiar interest. There are about a dozen of them, and they form an area of which the northern end falls just within the tropical zone, at a distance of 2000 miles from America, and separated from it by a deep gulf. From the nearest points of Polynesia proper, the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti, they are distant 1860 and 2190 miles. The largest island, Hawaii, is the most southern of the group. It has an area of about 5000 square miles, and its mountains, one of which is an active volcano, rise to a height of nearly 15,000 feet. The other islands, all taken together, are not equal to more than half the area of Hawaii. The capital of the group, Honolulu, is situated on the south side of the small island of Oahu. The average annual temperature of Honolulu is 75° F., the general range of the thermometer being from 70° to 83°, so that within an area about equal to that of Yorkshire we have every variation of temperature from equatorial heat to perpetual snow. Dr. Hillebrand estimates the total flora of the islands (Phanerogamia and Vascular Cryptogamia) at 999 species, representing 365 genera, and 99 orders. Of these 999 species, 653 are absolutely restricted to the Sandwich Islands, 207 native species are known elsewhere, 24 species were introduced by the natives in remote times, and 115 species are weeds of recent introduction. Leaving the introductions out of account, we have therefore a native flora of 860 species, of which three out of four are endemic. A vegetation thus Individualized makes the group one of the most interesting fields of study in the world. Flora of the Hawaiian Islands; a Description of their Phanerogams and Vascular Cryptogams. By William Hillebrand Annotated and Published after the Author's death by W. F. Hillebrand. 8vo, pp. 673, with Frontispiece and Four Maps. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1888.)