7-9 QUARTERMASTER CORPS 



S 7. Advice of Natives. — Whenever possible, try to get in 

 touch with natives even though one may be able to talk with 

 them only by means of signs. They can be most helpful in 

 times when regular rations are not available. They usually 

 know how these emergency food plants should be prepared, 

 and those which may be poisonous if eaten raw. In some 

 of the actually poisonous plants the poisonous principle may 

 be eliminated by proper cooking, or by other treatments, and 

 the material then eaten with entire safety. 



H 8. Local Names. — ^In selecting recorded native plant names, 

 no attempt has been made to indicate in what islands and 

 by what peoples the names are used. In the area covered, 

 there are probably in excess of 450 or 500 different languages 

 or dialects involved. For all plants of this vast region there 

 are probably in excess of 50,000 native plant names actually 

 recorded; many locally used plant names are still unlisted. 

 Some native plant names are very widely used, while others 

 are local. Many of the plants considered have no common 

 names in English. 



Section IV 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION 



Paragraph 



Plants near the seashore 9 



Guide for eating fruits 10 



■ 9. Plants Near the Seashore. — The number and variety of 

 plants on the atolls and low islands of Polynesia and Micro- 

 nesia are usually small, whether the islands be small or large, 

 inhabited or uninhabited. Naturally, a greater variety of 

 food plants, many of them cultivated, are found on the 

 inhabited islands. On most islands will be found on or near 

 the seashore such plants as the pandan or screw pine (par. 

 22y) , common purslane (par. 20;) , seaside purslane (par. 

 20/c) , Boerhaavia (par. 20Z) , Polynesian arrowroot (par, IQ;) , 

 and such shrubs and trees as Ximenia (par. 22a&), Morinda 

 (par. 20ad) , Tournefortia (par. 20ac), Pemphis (par. 20aE>), 

 Thespesia (par. 20aa) , and Erythrina (par. 202/) , as well as 

 various weedy herbs, such as Alternanthera (par. 206r), 



