In drawing my botanical remarks to a close, it may be fitting to recall the more lasting impressions which I have received of the vegetation of these islands; and I may do so in a very few words. The characteristic features of the vegetation are to be found in the number and variety of the areca palms; in the abundance of the alpinias, heliconias, and other scitamineous plants; in the imposing size and form of the banyans and the buttress trees; and in the profusion of the ferns. I have not previously dwelt upon the important part which the ferns take in the vegetation of these islands, because I had hoped to have heard something of my collection which I presented to the British Museum eighteen months ago; but, to my great chagrin, I have been unable, after repeated application, to learn anything concerning it. I may here state that ferns abound everywhere; in moist and dry situations; in sheltered and exposed districts; now decking the tree-trunks with their draperies, or concealing the unsightliness of the decaying log; here covering the bare slopes of some lofty hill-top, or clothing the surface of some treeless tract. The tree-fern and the wide-spreading Angiopteris are to be found on the banks of streams or in some inland dell. The former avoids the coast, and occurs at all elevations up to 2000 feet and over: it flourishes at the heads of valleys.
LIST OF PLANTS COLLECTED IN THE ISLANDS OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS, SOLOMON GROUP, DURING 1884.[433]
[433] I am mainly indebted to the kindness of Professor Oliver for the list of the plants collected by me in the Solomon Islands, most of which were sent to Kew. The ferns are in the British Museum, but I can learn nothing of them. Fortunately, the fungi were not included; and for a list of them I am indebted to Mr. Baker. Most of the orchids, and some of the asclepiads, were given by me to Baron von Mueller, who intends to examine them in connection with subsequent collections. I take this opportunity of expressing my sense of the great kindness he showed me with reference to my plant collections. To Signor Beccari I am also indebted. Owing to my inexperience in botanical collecting, the specimens were often inadequate for descriptive and specific determination; but my deficiencies will appear more excusable when I state that I devoted my attention more particularly to the trees. Professor Oliver, however, informs me that, in spite of its defects, my collection gives an excellent conception of the flora of the islands visited.
ANONACEÆ.
Uvaria, sp. . . vulgo “Nakia.” A stout climber.
GUTTIFERÆ.
Ochrocarpus ovalifolius, T. And v. O (Calysaccion) tinctorium, Seem.? vulgo “Kokoilo.” A littoral tree about thirty feet high.
Calophyllum Inophyllum, L., vulgo “Bogoau.”
Calophyllum sp. . . vulgo “Katari.” Two tall trees apparently distinguished by the size of the fruits. (Flowers not obtained.) A dark resin oozes from the bark, which the natives burn in torches.