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The Pacific Ocean is the largest single feature on the face of the Earth, covering about 30% of it total surface area. Across this vast expanse of water are numerous small tropical islands that have long been divided into three cultural and geographical regions: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia

The basis for the present book is an earlier one, Coastal flowers of the tropical Pacific, published by the Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden (now known as the National Tropical Botanical Garden) in 1980. It featured 67 species, but since that time I have continued studies on the flora of Polynesia, Polynesian plant names and the local uses for plants. This new book includes a total of 120 species, nearly double the number in Coastal flowers of the tropical Pacific. Most of the added species are from Hawaii and the Society Islands, but some rare Cook Island, Tonga, and Samoan species, which I had not previously seen or photographed, have been included as well. With these additions, nearly every species in the native littoral flora of Polynesia, and most of those of Micronesia and Melanesia as well, are now covered.

The subject of this book, as the subtitle 'The Ethnobotany of Samoa' indicates, is the traditional and current uses of plants in Samoa. The word ethnobotany is composed of two root words of Greek origin, ethnos, meaning a race or people, and botanikos, referring of course to plants. Thus ethnobotany is the scientific study of how people in different cultures interact with and utilize the plants in their natural environment.