On sandy shores the cosmopolitan Ipomoea pes-caprae occurs together with Boerhavia repens, Reichardia picroides, Vigna marina and several other hardy plants. However, the adjacent sand dunes provide habitat for a richer assembage of species. Here can be found several species able to bind or stabilize sand including Heliotropium anomalum, Vitex ovata, Scaevola taccada, Sporobolus virginicus and the endemic Nama sandwicensis (Hydrophyllaceae) and Sesbania tomentosa (Fabaceae). Much of the sand is composed of coral fragments, but on Hawai’i there is also black, volcanic sand, which has a very poor flora mainly comprising Ipomoea pes-caprae.

References

Baldwin, B. G. 1998. Evolution in the endemic Hawaiian Compositae. In: Evolution and Speciation of Island Plants. Eds. T. S. Stuessy and  M. Ono. Cambridge University Press.

Campbell, D. H. 1933. The flora of the Hawaiian Islands. Quarterly Review of Biology, 8: 164-184.

Campbell, D. G. & Hammond, H. D. 1989. Floristic Inventory of Tropical Countries. The New York Botanical Garden.

Carlquist, S. 1970. Hawaii A Natural History. The American Museum of Natural History.

Kitayama, K. & Mueller-Dombois. 1992. Vegetation of the wet windward slopes of Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii. Pacific Science, 46: 197-220.

Mueller-Dombois, D. & Fosberg, F. R. 1998. Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands. Springer.

Stone, B. C. 1967. A review of the endemic genera of Hawaiian plants. Botanical Review, 33: 219-259.

Wagner, W. L., Herbst, D. R. & Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i. Volumes 1 & 2. Bishop Museum Special Publication 97. Bishop Museum Press.