74 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
Guilandina crista has gray polished round seeds of stony hard- 
ness, about the size of small marbles. When shaken, these seeds, or 
*nicker-nuts,” give forth a rattling sound, owing to the fact that the 
kernel, consisting of two closely oppressed cotyledons, fits loosely in 
the shell, leaving a large air space, which gives buoyancy to the seeds. 
(Pl. XY, figs. 5, 6, 7.) 
The seeds of Lens phaseoloides (Pl. XV, figs. 2, 3, 4) do not rattle 
when shaken. Their kernels fill the shell completely, but inclosed 
between the two large cotyledons composing the kernel there is a 
large air space when the seeds are quite mature and dry. They are 
very light and float like bubbles on the surface of the sea. The seeds 
of Stizolobium are easily distinguished from those of Lens by their 
prominent raphe. Those of Lens have no raphe and are inclosed in 
an enormous woody, saber-shaped pod (Pl. LVI), consisting of many 
distinet joints, with a strong woody suture surrounding the whole 
legume, This suture is persistent and forms a sort of frame from 
which the inclosed joints may be removed separately. Each joint (PI. 
XV, fig. 1) is in the form of a closed cell in which the bean fits loosely 
and rattles about when shaken. This plant owes its very wide distribu- 
tion to the buoyancy of its seed and its habit of growing near the sea. 
Great numbers of the seeds are thrown up each year by the Gulf 
Stream on the Azores, but the plant has not succeeded in establishing 
itself on those islands. Seeds collected there by Darwin were sent by 
him to Sir Joseph Hooker. They were planted at Kew and many of 
them germinated and grew to be fine plants, ‘‘showing that their 
immersion during a vovage of nearly 3,000 miles had not affected their 
vitality.” ” 
MorinbDA CirrRiFOniA.—This plant (Pl. XVI), called ‘*ladda,” or 
Tada,” by the natives of Guam, has seeds of unusual interest. Their 
buoyancy is insured by a distinct air cell. They are frequently found 
in the drift of tropical shores, and experiments have been made which 
demonstrate the great length of time they will float in salt water.° 
the rocks about Jamaica, and is carried by the Winds and Current (which for the 
most part go impetuously the same way) towards the coast of Florida, and thence 
into the Northern Am. Ocean, whereas I mention p. 4. of my Catal. it lyes very 
thick on the Surface of the Sea: But how they should come the rest of their Voyage 
I cannot tell, unless it be thought reasonable, that as Ships when they go South 
expect a trade Easterly Wind, so when they come North, they expect and generally 
find a Westerly Wind for at least two parts of three of the Year, so that the Beans 
being brought North by the Current from the Gulph of Florida, are put into these 
Westerly Winds way, and may be supposed by this means at last to arrive in Scot- 
land. Sloane, An Account of Four sorts of strange Beans, ete.’’? Philosophical Trans- 
actions, vol. 19, pp. 299, 300, 1696. 
6J. D. Hooker, Insular Floras, Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1867, pp. 27, 51. 
¢See Schimper, Die indo-malayische Strandflora, p. 165, pl. vit, fig. 26, b and e, 
1891; also Guppy, The Dispersal of Plants, ete., Trans. Victoria Institute, vol. 27, p. 
267, 1890. 
