There are many oceanic islands scattered in the huge area of the western and southern Pacific Ocean. Their origin is diverse; most of these islands are volcanic, but some of them are coral reefs and/or even of continental origin, having previously been connected to other land masses. The flora of these islands is also diverse, with floristic elements of tropical South East Asia, including Taiwan and the Philippines, of East Asia such as China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago, and of Polynesia or Australia. Among these areas, remarkable plant speciation and evolution has occurred on the Bonin Islands (Japan), Ullung Island (Republic of Korea) and on some South Pacific Islands such as Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, the Society Islands, the Solomon Islands (including Vanuatu) and the Marquesas Islands. These archipelagos provide the focus for this part of the book.

Chapters 6 to 8 discuss aspects of the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands, located 26°30′ N–27°40′ N and 142°00′ E–142°15′ E. The area occupied by the islands is very small; even the largest island is only c. 24 km2. They are isolated from any other continental or large land mass such as Taiwan, the Philippines or the Japanese mainland. The flora of the Bonin Islands consists of floristic elements of tropical South East Asia including Taiwan and the Ryukyu (Okinawa) Archipelago, of continental East Asia such as China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese mainland, and even of the Polynesian Islands and Hawaii (e.g., Santalum and Metrosideros).