Cananga odorata (Anonaceæ)
This tree, which is cultivated in many places in tropical Asia and Malaya, but is certainly indigenous, according to the authors of the Flora Indica, in Ava and Tenasserim, has apparently extended into the Pacific by cultivation. But though much valued by the natives on account of its fragrant flowers, and in consequence often planted by them near their villages, it grows in some localities in Fiji and Samoa as an indigenous plant. The berries are especially suited for dispersal by frugivorous birds, their flat seeds, 8 mm. in length, possessing hard crustaceous tests that would enable them to pass unharmed in a bird’s droppings. According to Reinecke the fruits are sought after by pigeons, and particularly by Didunculus strigirostris, the Samoan Tooth-Billed Pigeon. The tree has not travelled eastward of Tonga and Samoa, with the exception of its occurrence in Rarotonga; and according to Mr. Cheeseman the Rarotongans received it from Samoa several years ago.
Geissois (Saxifragaceæ)
This genus of seven or eight known species is found in Australia, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and Fiji. Since New Caledonia possesses four species, it may be considered the home of the genus. To the Fijian endemic species, G. ternata, I paid special attention. The capsules dehisce on the tree and allow the small seeds to escape. These seeds, which are very light, 150 to 200 going to a grain, are 3 to 4 mm. long and are winged at one end. They could no doubt be carried some distance by strong winds; but they possess no buoyancy. Large bats probably aid in their dispersal. The Fijians assert that these animals are in the habit of visiting the trees for the sake of the honey furnished by the conspicuous red flowers. When they see a bat flying towards these trees, they are wont to remark that it is going to drink the “se ni vota,” that is, to suck the flowers of the Vota tree. It is very likely that seeds would sometimes be carried in their fur for considerable distances.
Begonia
Before the discovery of Hillebrandia, a new genus of the Begoniaceæ, in Hawaii, the order was not known from Polynesia. However, in 1878 Mr. Horne collected a species of Begonia in Fiji, and it was probably this species that frequently came under my notice in the rain-forests of the Vanua Levu mountains. In 1883 I collected a Begonia in the Solomon Islands, which I gave to Baron F. von Mueller, who informed me that it was the first record of the genus east of New Guinea, the description of Mr. Horne’s Fijian plant apparently not having been published (see Guppy’s Solomon Islands, p. 288). It is not easy to explain why a genus with such minute seeds, which are apparently as well fitted for dispersal as those of the orchids, should have such a limited distribution in the Pacific.
Dolicholobium (Rubiaceæ)
In the Index Kewensis this genus, containing five species, is restricted to Fiji. It must, however, be more generally distributed in the Western Pacific, since the genus was identified at Kew among my Solomon Island collections, and it is recorded in the list given in my book on that group (pages 283, 288, 297).
The showy, large, white, fragrant flowers of these small trees recall those of Lindenia, with which Dolicholobium is often associated in Fiji by the sides of streams and rivers. As Horne observes, the Fijian Dolicholobiums range from the sea-shores and the heads of the estuaries to the tops of the highest mountains. As noticed by me in the Solomon Islands they affected the same station, being especially common on the banks of streams. The genus has a long, narrow capsule six inches or more in length. The linear seeds, though very light, are an inch or more long, the coats being drawn out into a long tail at either end, and thus differing greatly from those of Lindenia, the other Rubiaceous genus, with which these plants are so frequently associated at the river-side. I can only suppose that the seeds are transported by the winds. The history of the genus is suggested in my remarks on Lindenia.