atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

BOMBACACEAE (Bombax Family)
Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. "kapok tree", " silk-cotton tree" duwoduwo (N)
s y n s . Bombax pentandrum L. ; Eriodendron anfractuosum DC . ; Ceiba casearia
Medic. ; Bombax orientale Spreng .
Pre-World War I1 introduction. India or Africa. Occasional. Tall deciduous, soft-
wooded, light-grey-barked tree, up to 25 m or higher, with a buttressed trunk, commonly
spiny below and cylindrical and smooth above, and horizontal tiers (whorls) of widely-
spaced spreading branches; leaves, palmately compound, with 5 to 9 leaflets; leaflets, 7
to 18 cm long and 1 to 3.5 cm wide, elliptic to oblanceolate, acuminate, blue-green
(glaucous) beneath, en tire or obscurely toothed, distinctly petiolate; petioles, 7 to 20 cm
long; flowers, which appear just before the leaves, clustered on branches; corolla, 5-
petaled, cream-white or pale pink, pubescent; petals about 2.5 cm long; fruit, 7 to 15 cm
long, oblong-ellipsoid, capsular, smooth, pendulous, 5-celled, eventually dehiscent, filled
with numerous long, soft silky or cotton-like fibers, each 0.8 to 3 cm long; seeds, many,
brown. Planted; some possibly spontaneous near Buada Lagoon. Fiber used in the past
for stuffing pillows and mattresses. 3(58642), 5, 6, 7.
BORAGINACEAE (Heliotrope Family)
Cordia subcordata Lam. "sea trumpet", "kou" (Hawaii)
eongo, mongo, eowongo (N); te kanawa (K); kanava (T)
Indigenous. Indian Ocean to Hawaii. Rare to occasional. Medium-sized tree, up to
10 m or taller, with spreading branches and pale greyish slightly fissured bark; leaves, 5
to 20 cm long and 4.5 to 15 cm wide, alternate, pale green, thinly coriaceous, ovate,
acute, base rounded, obtuse or truncate, lateral nerves 4- to 6-paired, margins entire or
slightly wavy; petiole, 2 to 8 cm long; flowers, few to several, in short-stalked axillary
and terminal cymose clusters; calyx, about 15 mm long, 3- to 6-lobed, lobes shortdeltoid,
pubescent ventrally; corolla, 2.5 to 4 cm long and 3 to 5.5 cm across the mouth
(limb, which is plicate in bud)), pale to bright orange, crepe-like, trumpet-shaped,
scentless, 5 to 7-lobed, lobes 15 to 25 mm long, rounded; fruit, 2 to 3 cm long, ellipsoid
or nearly round, apiculate-acute, enclosed in a fibrous, somewhat corky calyx, green
when mature but aging to brown or black; seeds, 1 to 2 (rarely 3 or 4), coarsely
muricate. Found on coastal strip near settlement areas, either planted or protected. Soft,
durable wood considered by Nauruans to be excellent timber for woodcarving, boatbuil-
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ding,-conicfion %id furGTure; leaves crushed and mixed with coconut milk to prevent
baldness; flowers used in garlands. Trunk highly prized for woodcarving and canoe hulls
throughout Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia. 3(58756), 5(77), 6, 7.