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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.

Wayside plants of the Islands : a guide to the lowland flora of the Pacific Islands, Hawai'i, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, Guam, Belau / W. Arthur Whistler

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. The broader related field of ethnology is the anthropological study of socio-economic systems and cultural heritage, usually in technologically less-advanced cultures (i.e. cultures that rely extensively on their immediate environment to meet their needs). The culture heritage portion can include ethnobotany to some degree, since useful plants are a part of one's cultural heritage. The Ethnology of Tubuai, for example, includes several chapters dealing with the use of plants on that Polynesian island. Another related term, "material culture," involves the study of how material things, which are made of animals, plants and inanimate materials, are used in a culture and thus includes ethnobotany.