DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 1938 
tough. When strained the pulp yields a fine jelly. Foreigners are warned against 
eating the uncooked fruit, the natives declaring that it will cause hiccoughs. Tarts 
made of it have very much the flavor of rhubarb. The natives do not appear to 
value the fruit very highly, but this may be owing to the scarcity of sugar, a large 
proportion of which is necessary for making jelly and preserves, and to the abun- 
dance of other fruits equally good or better. In India the unripe fruit is used in 
dyeing, the acid acting probably as a mordant. The juice removes iron rust from 
linen. The dried fruit is antiscorbutic and, together with the leaves and root, is used 
as a remedy in fevers. 
The tree was introduced into Guam many years ago, Gaudichaud mentions it, 
together with the allied Arerrhoa bilimbi L.,a species in which the clustered, caulifloral, 
pendant fruit is smaller and not angled, and the leaves have smaller and more 
numerous leaflets. The latter species is no longer found on the island; it has 
probably died out since Gaudichaud’s visit. 
REFERENCES: 
Averrhoa carambola L. Sp. Pl. 1: 428, 1753. 
Awned beard grass. See Andropogon aciculatus. 
Azafran (Spanish). See Curcima longa. 
Azucena (Guam). See Polianthes tuberosa, 
Baba ((iuam). 
A plant belonging to the Arum family, with heart-shaped leaves 2 to 2.5 meters 
long and reddish stems; probably a species of Alocasia. 
Bacao, Bacauan, or Bakawan (Philippines). See Rhizophora mucronata and Bru- 
guiera gymnorhiza. 
Bacopa monniera. WATER HYSSOP. 
. 1 . e 
Family Scrophulariaceae. 
LocaL NAMES.—Graciola (Cuba). 
A small, creeping, glabrous plant with rather thick, entire leaves and a pale biue 
or nearly white flower growing in moist situations. Leaves obovate or oblong, entire 
or crenate, without prominent veins; flowers few, on pedicels usually rather longer 
than the leaves, with 2 small bracteoles under the calyx; calyx divided to the base 
into 5 distinct sepals, the outer one oval, the others ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate; 
corolla-tube scarcely so long as the calyx, the 5 lobes spreading, broad, as long as the 
tube, the 2 upper ones rather smaller and less deeply separated than the others; 
capsule ovid, shorter than the calyx, opening loculicidally in 2 valves, which at 
length separate from the dissepiment and sometimes split into two. 
Common in Guam, especially in the ciénaga, near Agafia. In India it is used 
medicinally by the Hindoos, who consider it to be aperient and a stimulant for the 
secretion of urine. 
REFERENCES: 
Bacopa monnieria (L.) Wettst. in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 4°: 77. 1891. 
Gratiola monnieria L. Cent. Pl. 2: n. 120.1756; Amoen. Acad. 4: 306, 1759. 
Monniera brownet Pers, Syn. 2: 166. 1807. 
Herpestis monnieria H. B. K. Nov. Gen, et Sp. 2: 866, 1817. 
Badyog (Guam). The seeds of the snuff-box sea-bean. See Lens phaseoloides, 
Bahama grass. See Caprivla dactylon. 
Bahay (Philippines). See Adenanthera paronina. 
Bakao, Bakawan, or Bakawan (Philippines). See Rhizophora mucronata and 
Bruguiera gymnorhiza, 
Balangigan (Philippines). See Guettarda speciosa 
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