DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, 3385 
laughter, with occasional pauses during whieh Areca nuts, fresh betel leaves, and 
lime are passed around ona tray, and the host dispenses cigars, made by the ladies 
of his family, of tobacco leaves in the form of a cylindrical bundle kept together by 
a Wrapping of pineapple fiber or thread. 
In the Philippines toddy or ‘tuba’’ is made of the sap of the nipa, obtained as in 
the cocoanut from the flowering spadix. This is not done in Guam, where coconuts 
are much more abundant. Padre Blanco mentions nipa as a remedy for the bites of 
centipedes and a cure for ulcers. The kernel is edible, but very hard and only eaten 
occasionally in Guam as an experiment. 
REFERENCES: 
Nypa fraticans Wurmb, Verh. Batay. Gen, 1: 350. 1779. 
Ochra. See Ahelmoschus eseulentus. 
Ochrocarpos obovalis. Cropag. PLark LX, 
Family Clusiaceae. 
Loca NAMEs.—Chopag (Guam), 
A inedium-sized tree with leaves resembling those of Calophyllum and Clusia. 
Branches rigid, warty, with light-colored bark; leaves opposite, short-petioled, nar- 
rowed to the base, obovate or oblong-obovate, broadly rounded at apex, entire, 
smooth, coriaceous, 10 to 18 em. long by 6 to 8 em, wide, finely pinnate-veined and 
delicately reticulate, with broad, prominent midrib; petioles stout, grooved, scarcely 
13 mm. long; flowers fragrant, polygamous, lateral, single or clustered; peduncles 
single-flowered with a few short bracts at the base; calyx closed in the bud, splitting 
into two persistent sepals, which are 12 mm. long, broadly ovate and pointed; petals 
6, white, oblong, about 18 mm, long; stamens numerous, filaments slender, united 
at base; anthers elongated, fertile only in male flowers; female flowers with sterile 
stamens, a single pistil, and peltate, subsessile stigma; fruit large, hard, and of an 
oblong shape. 
The wood is hard, heavy, fine-grained, and durable. It is very highly prized by 
the natives of Guam, who use it for posts and beams in the construction of their 
houses, Sometimes the trunks yield logs 5 meters long and 30 em. in diameter. As 
the tree grows old red heart-wood is developed which at length takes up a great part 
of the trunk, From this a dye somewhat like that obtained from sappan-wood is 
obtained, but at the present time, when imported dyes are easily obtainable, the 
natives do not go to the trouble to prepare it for use. 
The tree usually grows in rocky places near the shore. It is especially abundant 
on the Peninsula of Orote and also on Apapa Island. Vast quantities have been cut 
down for the use of vessels touching at the island, but as it multiplies rapidly from 
the seed it has not become rare. 
In the Index Kewensis Calysaccion obovale of Miquel is given as a synonym for 
Ochrocarpos ovalifolius (Chois.) T. Anders. The Guam species corresponds accurately 
with Miquel’s description, but not with that of O. oralifolius, the leaves of which are 
“oval, obtuse at each end, or subcordate at the base,’ while those of our species 
narrow gradually to the base. 
This tree was mentioned under its vernacular name by Gaudichaud in the botany 
of the Freycinet expedition, but he did not know to what genus to refer it, calling it 
in one place a species of Rauwolfia and in another Plumiera. He described the wood 
correctly, but evidently did not see the flowers nor leaves. He probably confused it 
with Ochrosia mariannensis, a tree with glossy coriaceous leaves belonging to the 
Apocynaceae. 
REFERENCES: 
Ochrocarpos ohoralis (Miq.) Safford. 
Culysaccion obovale Mig. Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl. 1: 500, 1860. 
