SEEDS PLANTS OF FIJI

Saccharum 1. Nr. s.l. – 600 m.
Microstegium 1. Nr. s.l. – 900 m.
Ischaemum 1. No altitudinal information available (known from the type only).
Limestone.
Chrysopogon 1. Nr. s.l. – 900 m. ‘Probably an aboriginal introduction’ (Parham in
Smith), although it grows well on coastal limestone in Niue (R.O. Gardner pers.
comm., Sept. 2005). Limestone.
Van Balgooy (1971) accepted 16 other grass genera as indigenous to Fiji, a discrepancy which
illustrates the problems of ascertaining original distributions in this weedy and cultivated
family. Six of the genera accepted by van Balgooy that are the most likely to be indigenous are
the following, with evaluations by Parham (in Smith):
Setaria 1. s.l., inner edges of mangrove swamps, swampy areas, rocky places, open
hillsides, along roadsides, cultivated areas – ‘several hundred’ metres. Warmer parts of
the north temperate Old World, now widely distributed in the tropical Old World and
other areas.
Oplismenus 3. Two of these ‘appear to have been very early, possibly aboriginal
introductions’. s.l. – 900 m.
Sacciolepis 1. s.l. – 1000 m. Common throughout Fiji, ‘which suggests it was an early
introduction’.
Ancistrachne 1. 240 m. ‘The distribution, if natural, is very unusual’. It is not clear
whether this refers to the distribution outside Fiji (Australia, New Caledonia,
Philippines), or within Fiji (Mamanucas and Makodroga, Loma-i-Viti). Neither is
especially unusual.
Heteropogon 1. s.l. – 250 m, ‘aboriginal or very early European introduction’.
Coix 1. s.l. – 900 m, ‘presumed’ aboriginal introduction.
39. Arecaceae 11/24. Additional altitude information has been taken from Fuller (1997) and
Watling 2005).
Pritchardia 1. s.l. – 80 m. Only on limestone islets and limestone lagoon cliffs: ‘the
palms grow right down to the edge of the sea, and are subject to salt spray from large
waves’ (Fuller & Jones 1999).
Metroxylon 1. Coastal and some inland records (one of the specimens cited by
McClatchey, 1999, is from ‘near sea-level’). No other altitudinal information is
available. The Fijian species belongs to sect. Coelococcus which was revised by
McClatchey (1999).
Calamus 1. Nr. s.l. – 800 m.
Veitchia 4. Nr. s.l. – 1200 m. Close behind mangrove (Watling 2005), exposed
limestone karst (Watling 2005). Two species accepted by Moore (in Smith) were
synonymised by Doyle & Fuller (1998), and one was deleted by them as ‘dubious’.
Three other species accepted by Moore (in Smith) were synonymised by Zona &
Fuller (1999).
Balaka 6. Nr. s.l. – 1000 m. One species was deleted by Doyle & Fuller (1998) as
‘dubious’, one new species was described by Fuller & Dowe (1999), and one species
remains undescribed (Doyle & Fuller 1998).
Neoveitchia 1. No altitudinal information is available apart from one collection (Naqali
7