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

1 to 6 cm wide, very slenderly lanceolate-elliptic, or obovate-lanceolate, acuminate,
deeply separated, dark to light green and glabrous above, glaucous and pale beneath,
sometimes red-tinged, sometimes slightly hairy beneath, midrib green to deep red;
petioles, 5 to 32 cm long, green to deep red; stipules, usually with 3 to 5 lanceolate lobes
to 1 cm long, deciduous; flowers, about 1 to 2 cm across, monoecious, petal-less, often
not developing, pendulous, borne in few-flowered, lax, axillary paniculate clusters, 3 to
10 cm long, with male and female flowers in the same inflorescence, the latter near the
base; bracts, linear, deciduous; sepals 5, pale yellow or tinged with red, glabrous
without, puberulent within; male flowers, on pedicels 0.5 to 1 cm long, calyx, 3 to 8 mm
long, campanulate with 5 triangular lobes extending to middle of calyx, stamens 10 in 2
whorls, alternately short and long, filaments free, anthers small, basal disk orange, fleshy
with 5 double lobes; female flowers, on pedicels 1 to 2.5 cm long, usually larger than
males, calyx 5-partite to base, 1 cm long or more, ovary, 3 to 4 mm long, 3-carpellary,
6-ridged, glabrous, greenish-white with pink or red streaks, on a 10-lobed disc, style
connate, surmounted by 3 lobed white stigmas, each lobe much divided; fruit, 1.5 to 2
cm long, subglobose to ellipsoid capsule with narrow longitudinal wings or ridges, 3-
seeded, splitting explosively; seeds, about 12 mm long, ellipsoid, smooth, gray mottled
with dark blotches, carunculate, with a thin crustaceous testa; tubers, developing as
swellings on adventitious roots at a short distance from the stem, usually 4 to 10 per
plant, 10 to 100 cm long and 3 to 15 cm in diameter, usually weighing 1 to 10 kg or
more, cylindrical or tapering, occasionally branched, outer skin, rough or smooth, light
to darker brown to white or pinkish, inner rind or cortex usually white, but sometimes
tinged with pink or brown, core or pith consisting of rich white or yellowish starch with
few xylem bundles and latex tubes. Food plant in I Kiribati and Tuvaluan gardens at
Location and Topside workshops. This easy-to-grow plant, which thrives on the poorest
of soils, has become the dominant staple root crop, displacing taro and yam as the
dominant staple in many areas of high-island Micronesia, and in Fiji, Tonga, parts of the
Cook Islands, and in the drier areas of Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Papua New
Guinea. 5, 6, 7.
Pedilanthus tithymaloides (L.) Poit. "slipper flower", "slipper spurge", "shoe spurge",
"zigzag plant", "redbird cactus", "ribbon cactus"
syns. P. carinatus Spreng.; Euphorbia tithymaloides L.
Recent introduction. Caribbean. Occasional. Erect or somewhat decumbent,
sparsely branching, slightly succulent subshrub, up to 1 m or higher, with white latex and
fleshy, cylindrical stems which zigzag from node to node; leaves, 5 to 10 cm long,
alternate, soon falling, fleshy, waxy, ovate to lanceolate, subsessile, often variegated or
streaked green, white, yellowish or pink tinted, or in some forms completely albino;
-flowers,menoec~u~,~~spi~s,-p~l~e~-yellaw.is~or~n.~c
terminal cymose clusters; cyathium, about 12 mm long, narrow, boat- or slipper-shaped
red or pink bracts containing 1 female and several male flowers, with 4 glands; fruit, 7.5
by 9 mm, capsular; seeds, 5 mm long, ovate. Planted ornamental. 3(58681), 5, 6, 7.