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

stamens; fruit, about 2.5 cm long, dry, narrow ovoid, 5-angled, 1-seeded. Planted
ornamental. 3(58790), 5(113), 6, 7.
Terminalia catappa L. "beach almond", "Indian almond", "Malabar almond", "tropical
almond", "coastal almond" etetah, eteto (N); te kunikun (K); talie, te ipe (T)
Indigenous. Trop. Asia and Australia to W. Polynesia and Micronesia. Common.
Medium to large, deciduous or semi-deciduous tree, up to 30 m tall, with whorled,
horizontal, wide-spreading branches arranged in tiers, and reddish timber; leaves, 15 to
30 cm long and 10 to 22 cm wide, clustered in rosettes at the ends of the branches entire,
leathery, shiny, dark-green turning red and yellow before dropping, new leaves appearing
almost immediately, obovate, broadly rounded, obtuse or acute, base narrowing,
narrowly and abruptly obtuse at petiole, pinnately-nerved, midrib slightly pubescent;
petioles, 0.5 to 1 cm long, stout; flowers, small, numerous (35 to 80 ), white, petal-less,
with a 5-lobed, bell-shaped calyx, which soon falls, and 10 stamens, borne in axillary,
spikelike racemes, about 10 cm to 24 long, near ends of branches; fruit, 5 to 7 cm long,
green turning yellow, then red, ovoid, subelliptic or subobovoid, hard, flattened, two-
keeled (narrowly-winged), drupe, with thin fleshy pulp surrounding a single edible
almond-like kernel. Tree in original plateau forest, on escarpment and on the coastal
strip; occasionally planted or protected in home gardens. Timber used in light construc-
tion and for woodcarving; roots used by some people to prepare a cure for dysentery;
outside rind of fruit eaten when yellow and kernel eaten after the mature fruit has fallen;
fruit strung as necklaces and used in black magic or sorcery. 3(58662), 5(116), 6, 7.
CONVOLVULACEAE (Morning-Glory Family)
Ipomoea aquatica Forsk. "water spinach", "swamp cabbage", "water convolvulus"
Lorenzo (N); ung ts'oi (C); cangcong (F)
syns. I. reptans Poir.; Convolvulus reptans L.; 1. repens Roth
Pre-World War I1 introduction. Trop. Asia, Africa and Australia. Occasional.
Creeping, trailing or sometimes floating, semi-aquatic, hollow-stemmed, perennial
herbaceous vine, producing long shoots, rooting freely at the nodes; leaves, 5 to 15 cm
long and 2 to 10 cm wide, light green, soft and limp (flaccid), variable, commonly
oblong-lanceolate or heart-shaped, the base hastate or truncate, long-petiolate; petioles, 3
to 15 cm long, hollow; flowers, 1 to 7 in cymes, peduncles, 2 to nearly 18 cm long,
pedicels, 2 to 6 cm long; sepals, obtuse, ovate-oblong, 7 to 9 mm long; corolla, 3.5 to
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5.5 cm long, pinkish-violet, often darker in the throat, rarely white; fruit, to 1 cm long,
ovoid; seeds, finely pubescent. Food plant in Chinese and Filipino gardens at Location
and Topside Workshop gardens; naturalized in muddy areas of Buada Lagoon, where it