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

up to 30 cm or more long; tubers, large, up to 10 kg or more in weight, variable-sized,
globose, cylindrical or lobed, black- to brown-skinned, with white to purplish flesh. Food
plant in home gardens at Location and Denigomodu. Important staple food crop in many
parts of Melanesia, Polynesia and Pohnpei (Ponape), Yap and other high islands in
Micronesia, where numerous named cultivars are recognized, but insignificant in Nauru.
Tuber cooked as a staple vegetable. 5, 6.
Dioscorea esculenta (Lour.) Burkill "lesser yam", "sweet yam", "Goa yam"
syns. Oncus esculentus Lour.; Dioscorea fasciculata Roxb.
Pre-World War I1 introduction. S. E. Asia. Rare. Herbaceous or woody, twining,
high-climbing tuberous vine with cylindrical thorny or armed stems; leaves, 10 to 15 cm
long and wide, alternate, heart-shaped or orbicular, woolly-pubescent; petioles as long as
the blades; flowers, 4 to 5 mm wide, rarely-seen, small, green, borne in slender axillary
panicles, up to 40 cm long; tubers, 15 to 20 cm long, clustered, ovoid, potato-like, with
thin brownish skin and white, slightly sweet flesh. Food plant in home gardens at
Location and Meneng. Important staple in parts of Papua New Guinea and Solomon
Islands and a supplementary staple crop in many areas of Melanesia, Polynesia and
Micronesia. Tuber cooked as a staple vegetable. 5, 6.
IRlDACEAE (Iris Family)
Gladiolus sp. "gladiolus"
Recent introduction. S. Africa. Rare. Erect herbaceous bulbed annual, up to 1 m
or higher, of which many hybrid cultivars exist; leaves, up to over 60 cm long and 2 to 3
cm wide, erect, strap- or sword-shaped; flowers, 5 cm or more in diameter, few to
many, showy, white, yellow, red or purplish, often variegated, with curved funnel-
shaped tubes and oblong segments, born in 1-sided spikes on flowering stems which are
longer than the leaves. Planted ornamental. 5, 6, 7.
Iris sp. %is"
Recent introduction. Origin? Rare. Erect herbaceous rhizomatous perennial, up to
60 cm or higher, of which many hybrid cultivars exist; leaves, several, flat, narrow,
forming - a fan-shaped cluster at ~ the base of ~ ~ ~ an ---- erect flower stem; flowers, blue to
- ---- --purplish-blue.
Planted ornamental. 5, 6(lOO).