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

Canavalia rosea (Sw.) DC. "sea bean", "bay bean"
erekogo (N); te kitoko (K)
syns. C. maritima (Aubl.) Thouars; C. obtusifolia (Lam.) DC.
Indigenous. Pantropical. Rare. Prostrate, rather coarse trailing or weakly climbing
glabrous or slightly pubescent herbaceous vine; leaves, alternate, trifoliate; leaflets, 6 to
12 cm and nearly as wide, fleshy-coriaceous, elliptic to suborbicular, subovate or
subobovate, obtuse or slightly emarginate-notched at apex, base rounded, obtuse to acute,
with pubescent appressed hairs; flowers, 2 cm to 3 cm long, short-pedicellate, in long-
pedunculate axillary few-flowered racemes, up to 20 cm long, slightly shorter than the
leaves; pedicel about 3 mm long; calyx 5-lobed, about 12 mm long, whitish-puberulent,
upper lip much shorter than tube, lowest tooth 2 mm long; corolla, 5-petaled, about 3 cm
long (standard), pink to purple, commonly with white blotch or yellowish proximally, the
wings and keel petals pale magenta; pods, 8 to 15 cm long and 2 to 3 cm wide, broadly
linear, inflated or only slightly compressed, spirally dehiscent, pale tan; seeds, about 1.8
cm long, elliptic, slightly compressed, brown with dark marbling, hilum about 7 mm
long. Found in beach vegetation. 7(27804).
Cassia alata L. "golden candelabra bush", "Roman candle tree", "candle bush",
"ringworm bush"
syn. Senna alam (L.) Roxb.
Recent introduction. Mexico. Rare. Coarse erect shrub or small tree, 2 to 5 m
tall, with downy green branches and strong-smelling foliage and bark; leaves, 50 to 80
cm long, with 5 to 13 pairs of large leaflets; leaflets, 5 to 18 cm long and 3 to 9 cm
wide, the distal ones largest, ovate-oblong, obtuse, truncate, or even slightly notched at
apex, subsessile; stipules, obliquely deltoid, 6 to 16 by 3 to 10 mm; inflorescence, a
striking long-pedunculate erect dense cone-like racemose spike, 15 to 60 cm long,
bearing many crowded and overlapping flowers; calyx, 5-parted, sepals up to 16 mm
long, yellow or orange; petals 5, 16 to 23 mm long, bright yellow, subtended by yellow
or yellow-orange floral bracts; pods, 12 to 19 cm long and 2 to 3 cm wide, straight,
widely ascending, sharply tetragonal, papery or leathery in texture, winged lengthwise
down the middle of each valve; seeds, numerous, up to 60, flat. Planted ornamental;
leaves widely used as a cure for ringworm, but reportedly not in Nauru. 5, 6.
Cassia fistula L. "golden shower tree", "Indian laburnum", "pudding-pipe tree"
te katia? (K)
Recent introduction. Trop. Asia. Occasional. Small to medium tree, up to 10 to
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leaflets; leaflets, 8 to 21 cm long and 5 to 9 cm wide, subsymmetrically ovate or elliptic,
acute to subacuminate; inflorescence, 15 to 65 cm long, a drooping many (15 to 75)flowered
axillary raceme, resembling in size and shape a large bunch of grapes, often