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

purplish spikelets, 8 to 12 mm long. Planted ornamental and spontaneous in some areas.
3(58742), 3(171N), 5(95), 6, 7(22318).
Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. ex Wendl. "common bamboo", "feathery bamboo"
ebarabaratu, embarabaraba (B)(N) ; te kaibaba (K)
syns. Arundo bambos L.; Bambos arundinacea Retz.; Bambusa arundinaria
Willd. ex Merr. (Sphalm.); B. arundinacea (Retz.) Willd.
Pre-World War I1 post-European contact introduction. Trop. Asia. Rare. Giant
perennial clump-forming woody grass with segmented green to yellowish stems (culms),
up to 15 m tall and 8 cm wide; leaves, 9 to 30 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide, feathery,
lanceolate, rough below and on the margins; flowers, spikelets, 2 to 3.5 cm long, borne
in large leafy clusters at the nodes. Planted on coastal strip. Woody stems used in the
construction of perches for pet frigate birds, for fishing rods, net handles for noddy-bird
nets and reef and flying-fish nets; splinters used in the past to mend fishing nets; parts
used medicinally. 2, 5, 6(217), 7.
Cenchrus brownii R. & S.
eakung, iyakong (N)
syn. C. viridis Spreng.
"Brown's burgrass", "Brown's sandbur"
Recent introduction. Trop. America. Occasional. Annual grass, up to 50 cm or
higher; leaves, 5 to 12 cm long, narrow, slightly hairy; inflorescence, a cylindrical
flowering spike bearing many crowded somewhat delicate globose spiny burrs. Weed in
open places and ruderal habitats on the coastal strip. 5(35), 6, 7.
Cenchrus echinatus L. "burgrass", "sand bur"
eakung, iyakong (N); te kateketeke (K); mouku talatala (T)
Pre-World War I introduction. Trop. America. Common. Annual grass, 10 to 60
cm tall, lower parts often prostrate, rooting at the nodes; leaves, 3 to 10 cm long and 3
to 10 mm wide, narrow, slightly hairy on the upper surface near base, smooth on lower
surface; inflorescence, a dense cylindrical spike-like raceme, 3 to 8 cm long, bearing 5 to
15 well-spaced (not crowded) spiny burs, usually bearing 2 to 4 spikelets, 5 to 7 mm
long; fruit, a globose bur, 3 to 6 mm in diameter, purplish or straw-colored with age,
with numerous irregularly arranged spines, up to 5 mm long. Weed occurring in clusters
or tufts in open and ruderal habitats on the coastal strip. 2, 3(58607), 4(146N), 5(34), 6,
7, 8. - -