Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific Between 1896 and 1899, Volume 2 Plant-Dispersal
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE POLYNESIAN AND HIS PLANTS
Identity of the problems presented by the indigenous plants and the peoples of the Pacific islands.—The food-plants of the Polynesians and the pre-Polynesians.—Their weeds.—The aboriginal weeds.—The white man’s weeds.—Weeds follow the cultivator but are distributed by birds.—The general dispersion of weeds antedates the appearance of the Polynesian in the Pacific.—Weeds of little value to the ethnologist.—Aleurites moluccana.—Inocarpus edulis, Gyrocarpus Jacquini, Serianthes myriadenia, Leucæna Forsteri, Mussænda frondosa, Luffa insularum.—Summary
_Pages_ 411-428