The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-02-26
WHAT A BOTANIST
MAY SEE IN HONOLULU
A. B. LYONS IN TnRUMS ANNUAL

SlN Gays WITHOUT SlRHl Vi ldllu' 4Nc
| wonder there is excitement among the
passengers VIXEN. in the dawn OF the
seventh day, they distinguish close at
hand outlines of mountains losing them
selves above in cloud.
With impotence they wait for day
| light. eager TO see once more the green
OF living plants. 1t is well that their
| eagerness does not hasten the imper-
| turbable course of nature, for the vol
canic cones of the lee coast they are
passing, though striking in outline, are
nearly bare OF vegetation.
AT last as we pass Diamond Head
with the entrance OF the harbor only
| three miles ahead, the growing light ell
ables us to discriminate the deep green
OF the tree-embowered city, the paler
| shades of grass lands and the ruddy
brown OF the great tufa cone in the fore
ground. The fringe OF cocoanut palms
along the Waikiki beach. distinguishable
even to the naked eye although two
miles distant, tells us that we are in
the tropics Otherwise, while the YER
dure delights the starved eye as verdure
there is nothing in it suggestive of trop-
ical luxurance. Indeed, unless there
have been copious rains, the country
will strike one as rather parched.
| A botanist, new to the tropics, will
be eager to make closer acquaintance
with the vegetation seen thus in mass
in the distance. He tries with his field
glass to make out details as the steamer
continues its course, parallel with the
shore but at a tantalizing distance, ow-
ing TO the coral reef.
| Arrived at the dock he will look in
vain for any green thing. Even the
water will be destitute of the weeds that
| would seem to HIM prizes. He must
content himself with watching the ka-
naka boys, clad save for a breech cloth
in their bare, brown skins. diving for
the coins that passengers throw into the
water
AT last he is safely slowed in what is
called a hack with the agreeable pros
pect OF breakfast on shore occupying
a large part of his thoughts, and as he
is whirled on through town he catches
glimpses OF unfamiliar trees and shrubs
that make him impatient to form their
closer acquaintance.
The results OF his observations in the
next few days he may summarize some
what as follows: The streets of Homo
lulu for the most part are unshaded, al
though the city seems like one great
park-thc houses, in their spacious
grounds embowered in trees and shrub
berry. Palm trees abound of numerous
species. Most stately of all is the royal
palm, always rigidly erect, its head of
comparatively few pinnate fronds SUR
mounting the pale colored, smooth,
gracefully tapering column of its stem.
Less striking but more beautiful is the
date palm, whose slender, numerous
fronds curve gracefully outward and
whose erect, shaggy, massive trunk is
symbolic Of strength in repose. There
are palms with slender stems not more
than three inches in diameter and TWEEN
ty feet high, stocky palms with immense
fronds twice as large and three times
as numerous as those of the royal palm,
the stem two feet or more in diameter
and only ten or fifteen feet high, palms
with smooth, strictly cylindrical jointcd
trunks, looking like gigantic bamboos,
tan palms, feathery palms, palms with
berry-like drupes, palms with cone-like
fruit, palms bearing nuts small and
large, naked and covered with husk.
Queen of them all with its slender,
crooked trunk so to 100 feet high, its
plume OF magnificent, gracefully waving,
yellow green fronds and its generous
burden of fruit is the cocoanut palm,
which however, finds the climate OF
Honolulu scarcely warm enough for its
finest development.
One will find in Honolulu very few
plants belonging to the original flora OF
the islands. Even the grasses and weeds
are nearly all exotic. The few "nd-
gcnouS' trees occasionally planted are
after all not aboriginal, having been
brought from the Polyncsan islands
further south by the original settlers. !
Very few species peculiar to the Hawai- !
ian Islands are to be found anywhere ex-
cept in the forests of the interior, where |
such species mostly originated There
are. however, many species of lttoral I
plants which are widely distributed the !
seeds, tuberS or stems being transported !
long distances without injury by the
salt sea water. These with some cos
mopolitan ferns, whose spores are readi-
y carried long distances by wind, or
adhering to the feathers or
feet of migratory birds, are about the
only truly native plants one will see in
he vicinity OF Honolulu. Only few
ot the 135 or, more native ferns are
planted in gardens. The one
hat will particularly attract attention is
he birdsnest fern, Neottopteris indus,
which is frequently placed in the crotch
If branching tree trunk, its favorite
ocation i'll its habitat. One would not
'ecognize it at first glance as a fern at
Ill., Its fronds are entire 3 to 5 feet
ong, by to 7 inches wide, forming a
ocular crown. The foliage is rather
hat OF an indigenous plant like the
panama than fern, but the spores grow
ng on its under surface betray it.
The tree ferns which abound in the
orest, and which are peculiar Hawai-
an species, you will rarely see in cul-
ivatiOn in Honolulu. They do not