360 SAMOAN PLANTS AND THEIR VERNACULAR NAMES. 
Niu. The collective term for Palms (Palmee). 
Niu (Cocos nucifera), of which there are several varieties, viz. :— 
Niu-‘afa: the long kind esteemed for the length of its fibre, and 
preferred for making the ‘afa (cinnet). Niualava: the strong-fibred 
kind. Niui ved Niuui: the dark kind. Niufetepulu : much husk 
and small nut. Niule’a: a low tree. Nut small. Fruit sweet. 
Fruits early, so that for years persons may pick the fruit while stand- 
ing on the ground ; never (?) attains a great height. Niumea. 
Niupiu. The Fan-palm (Pritchardia pacifica var.?). 
Niusami. The state of the cocoa-nut when the liquor has an acid 
taste, and shortly before it is converted into a soft, pulpy mass; it has 
at this stage somewhat the taste of new ale or beer. 
Niutetea. A pale-leaved Cocoa-nut tree. : 
Niuvao. The name of several species of Palms which grow very 
tall on the highest mountain of Upolu, especially near the mountain 
lake Lanuto‘o. 
Niuvao (Ptychosperma sp.?). The specific name of a species of 
wild Palm which grows nearer the sea than the above, and whose 
leaves are premorse. 
Nonu (Morinda citrifolia). Fruit cooked as a delicacy for the sick. 
Nonufiafié (Eugenia Malaccensis). The varieties are—Nonu-ui, the 
dark kind; and Nonn-‘ulu, the large kind; Nonuvao (the wild or 
bush Nonu), a small kind. 
Nu'anu'a (Nelitris Vitiensis, A. Gray) A very pretty shrub, 6-10 
feet high, highly prized by the natives ; indigenous, but scarce. 
Thrives well only some 500 feet up the mountains. Flowers small, 
pretty, pink. The leaves, when rubbed, emit a sweet perfume. 
O'a (Bischoffia Javanica). Trees 20-40 feet high. Dicecious. 
The fertile trees have ternary leaves on long petioles. The stipules 
are very distinct on the young leaves, but they drop off so early as to 
be only found before the leaf is fully developed. Ovary 3-celled; 2 - 
ovules in each cell, pendulous. Wood red, hard, durable, resists the 
etc., but splits considerably in the sun. The Samoans scrape the 
trunk to obtain from it the gummy juice which they use for mixing 
their pigments, with which they paint their native cloth (siapo). 
ee 
dotted, ovate, serrated ; ribs and veins red. Flowers didymous, in 
axillary spikes; male spikes with large, foliaceous, serrated bracts. 
