66 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
example belonging to the Oxalidaceae. This is verrhoa carambola, 
the * bilimbines” of the natives, a tree which yields a pellucid oyal- 
shaped, five-angled fruit. (Pl. XX XVII.) Its foliage is not only 
sensitive to light and darkness, sunshine and shade, but also to sudden 
mechanical shocks, the leaves bending and their leaflets folding very 
much as in the case of the sensitive plant (JMiosa pudica). Besides 
the above-mentioned plants are several species of Cassia, Caesalpinia, 
Evythrina indica and other Leguminosae; and, among the Euphor- 
biaceae, two or three species of Phyllanthus and Euphorbia. 
PLANTS WHICH SELDOM BLOOM. 
Many plants grow spontaneously on the island which in many other 
parts of the world are seen only ina state of cultivation, The plant 
which produces the celebrated *‘rhea” fiber, Boehmeria tenacissima, 
which in cultivation is herbaceous and seldom flowers, grows spontane- 
ously in Guam in the form of a shrub or small tree, called in the island 
vernacular ‘‘amahayan.” Species of Colocasia and Alocasia, which 
seldom bloom in cultivation, and which are classified according to their 
inflorescence, here appear to grow in a state of nature. Their soft, 
fleshy spathes should be collected and preserved in alcohol or formalin 
for comparison with species and varieties from other localities. Bam- 
boos also are among the plants which seldom flower. The species 
growing in Guam have not yet been identified with certainty owing 
to the lack of good specimens of inflorescence. In cultivation all the 
plants here mentioned are propagated asexually, and are divided into 
a number of varieties. 
PLANTS WITH EXTRAFLORAL NECTARIES, 
There are perhaps few localities which offer better facilities for the 
observation of extrafloral nectaries. Here within a small area, grow- 
ing not in conservatories, but in a state of nature, may be observed a 
remarkably large number of plants having glands on the midribs, 
veins, petioles, or rachis of their leaves, or on the peduncles, pedicels, 
or sepals of their flowers. Among them are species of Cassia, Eryth- 
rina, and Acacia, with stalked disk or cup-like glands, and, belonging 
to the Euphorbiaceae, the candle-nut (Aleurites) and the well-known 
castor bean with well-marked nectaries at the junction of the blade 
and the petiole of the leaf. 
Ricinus communis is especially well provided with these nectar 
glands. They occur on the nodes of the stem, along the petioles of 
the leaves, and the serrations of the leaf blades (PI. LX, fig. 2), as well 
as at the base of the blade where it is joined by the petiole. At this 
point there are usually two nectaries, though there may be but one, 
or there may be three or four when the leaf has a greater number of 
lobes than usual. Many of the Euphorbiaceae are provided with extra- 
