256 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
Common about Agafia, both the white-flowered and purple-flowered varieties. 
The leaves and seeds are sedative and narcotic. In India the seeds are often used as 
a poison. 
REFERENCES: 
Datura fastuosa L. Syst. ed. 2. 932. 1759. 
Davallia heterophylla. See Humata heterophylla. 
Davallia solida. GLossy FERN. PLATE III. 
Family Polypodiaceae. 
LocaL NAMES.—Pugua machena (Guam). 
A graceful fern, with glossy, divided fronds, climbing the trunks of forest trees and 
growing upon their limbs, associated with Polypodium phymatodes, Cyclophorus 
adnascens, and Nephrolepis spp. Rhizome stout, densely clothed with fibers; stipe 
slender, strong, erect; fronds deltoid, tripinnatifid; apex with a moderately broad 
undivided center; segments ovate-rhomboidal, deeply toothed, narrow and sharper 
in fertile frond; veins uniform; texture coriaceous; sori nearly or quite marginal; 
indusium semicylindrical. 
This species is widely spread throughout Polynesia, the Philippines, and the Malay 
Peninsula, It has also been collected in Java. 
REFERENCES: 
Davallia solida Sw. Syn. Fil. 132, 375. 1806. 
Trichomanes solidum Forst. f. Prod. n. 475. 1786. 
Dayflower. See Commelina. 
Delonix regia. FLAME TREE. 
Family Caesalpiniaceae. 
LocaL, NAMES.—Arbol del fuego (Philippines, Guam); Flamboyant; Peacock 
flower. 
A rapid-growing tree with broad top and wide-spreading branches. Leaves grace- 
fully bipinnate, 30 to 60 em. long with 10 to 20 pairs of pinne, each pinna with 
numerous small oval leaflets; flowers large, in large racemes, bright scarlet, the 
upper petal striped with yellow; calyx-segments valvate; petals 5, clawed, obovate; 
stamens 10, free, exserted; pod flat, strap-like, 15 to 60 cm. long. 
This handsome ornamental tree is a native of Madagascar. It has become widely 
spread, and is now found in all tropical countries. It yields a yellowish or reddish 
brown mucilaginous gum containing oxalate of lime. It is not yet well established 
in Guam. 
REFERENCES: 
Delonix regia ( Boj.) Raf. Fl. Tellur. 2: 92. 1836. 
Poinciana regia Boj. in Hook. Bot. Mag. 56: t. 2884. 1829. 
Desmodium australe. Same as Meibomia umbellata. 
Desmodium gangeticum. Same as Meibomia gangetica. 
Desmodium triflorum. Same as Meibomia triflora. 
Desmodium umbellatum. Same as Meibomia umbellata. 
Detergents, or plants used for cleaning. 
Citrus aurantium saponacea (fruit used for washing clothes and for the hair). 
Citrus bergamia (fruit used for washing the hair). 
Colubrina asiatica (leaves used in Samoa and Fiji). 
Lens phaseoloides (crushed stems saponaceous, used for washing). 
Devil’s guts. See Cassytha filiformis. 
Dewflower. See Commelina. 
Dianella ensifolia. 
Family Liliaceae. 
A plant with leafy stem and cymose panicles of small flowers. Leaves rigid, 
distichous, linear-lanceolate, the bases equitant or overlapping, the sheaths acutely 
