212 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
Canna indica. CANNA. INDIAN SHOT. 
Family Cannaceae. 
Loca NAmMES.—Mafigo halom-tano (Guam); Fana-manu (Samoa); Aliipoe 
(Hawaii); Cafia de cuentas, Coyol (Mexico): Blumenrohr (German); Balisier 
de l’ Inde (French). 
A well-known plant cultivated all over the world for ornamental purposes and 
growing without cultivation in most tropical countries. Stem erect, about 90 to 120 
em. high; leaves large, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, clasping the stem; flowers red; 
sepals 3, imbricate; petals 3, narrow, subequal, with recurved tips; staminodes 3, 
longer than the petals; ovary 3-celled, the cells with many ovules; style linear, flat, 
growing together below with the staminodial whorl, free above; stigma apical, often 
decurrent on one side; capsule warty; seeds round, black, very hard. 
In India the seed are sometimes used for shot and are made into necklaces and 
other ornaments: They yield a purple dye, but it is not permanent. An allied 
species, Canna edulis, is cultivated in the West Indies for the sake of the starch 
derived from its fleshy rhizomes. In Colombia starch is obtained from Canna indica, 
but it is not so good as that of Canna edulis, 
REFERENCES: 
Canna indica, L. Sp. Pl. 1:1. 1753. 
Cannon-ball tree. See Nylocarpus granatum. 
Capa de la reina ((tuam). 
The blue pea or ‘“‘queen’s cloak.’? See Clitoria ternatea. 
Capayo (Philippines). See Carica papaya. 
Caper. See Cupparis mariana. 
Capili (Philippines). See Aleurites moluccana, 
Capoc (Philippines). See Ceiba pentandra; the silk-cotton tree. 
Capparidaceae. CAPER FAMILY. 
This family is represented in Guam by Cleome viscosa and Capparis mariana, 
Capparis mariana. MARIANNE CAPER, 
Family Capparidaceae. 
Loca, NAMES.—Aleaparro (Spanish, Guam); Alcaparro de Marianas (Philip- 
pines). 
A shrub growing near the sea, with large, white, fragrant flowers, and large edible 
seed capsules. Trunk and limbs rough, covered with small protuberances, but not 
thorny; leaves alternate, subreniform, obtuse, emarginate, smooth, soft, and rather 
fleshy; petioles short; flowers solitary in the axils of the leaves, long-pedicelled; sta- 
mens numerous; fruit elongate, 6-ribbed; seeds many, embedded in pulp. 
This plant is abundant on the island. The natives make very good pickles of the 
unripe capsules. It has been introduced into the Philippines, where it is known as 
the ‘‘caper of the Marianne Islands.’’ The flowers are sometimes pink. It appears 
from the archives at Agafia that some of the early governors of Guam exported the 
fruit in considerable quantities, employing the natives to gather it. 
REFERENCES: 
Capparis mariana Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. 1:57. t. 109. 1797. 
Capparis spinosa mariana K. Schu. Engler’s Jahrb. 9: 201. 1887. 
Capriola dactylon. BERMUDA GRASS. 
Family Poaceae. 
Local NAMES.—Grama (Guam, Cuba); Manienfe (Hawaii); Mati (Rarotonga) ; 
Doorba-grass, Doob-grass (Bengal); Bahama grass (West Indies). 
A grass with prostrate stems, widely creeping and forming matted tufts with short 
ascending branches. Leaves short, subulate, glaucous; ligule hairy; spikelets minute, 
