EDIBLE FRUIT. 323 



of false or sterile flowers. There is also the Loselose 

 (Ficus sp.), the Kura (Morinda citrifolia, Linn.), the 

 Balawa (Pandanus odoratissimus, Linn.), the Wa gadro- 

 gadro (Eubus tiliaceus, Smith) having a fruit resembling 

 the raspberry in appearance, and being occasionally 

 used by white settlers for pies; the Bokoi (Eugenia 

 Richii, A. Gray), with a fruit somewhat like the Kavika 

 (Eugenia Malaccensis, Linn.), but inferior in flavour; 

 the Sea (Eugenia sp.), still more insipid, if possible, than 

 the last-mentioned; and the Nawanawa (Cordia subcor- 

 data. Lam.), producing an edible kernel a tree twenty- 

 feet high, often mistaken for the Cordia Sebestena, Linn., 

 of the West Indies, which it closely resembles in habit, 

 but its orange flowers are neither so brilliant nor so 

 numerous. Nor must the Vutu kana, or Vutu kata 

 (Barringtonia excelsa, Blume), be forgotten. It is a 

 tree forty feet high, cultivated about Bau, and distin- 

 guished from the other Barringtonias of Fiji by its egg- 

 shaped, not angular, fruit, eaten either raw or cooked. 

 Another species of Barringtonia, closely resembling the 

 foregoing, is the Vutu dina, which is also edible ; but 

 whilst the fruit of the Vutu kana (i. e. edible Vutu) has 

 a soft outside, that of the Vutu dina has a hard one, 

 requiring the application of a knife before the edible 

 portion can be got at. Finally must be mentioned the 

 Somisomi, Sosomi, Tomitomi or Tumitumi, as the dif- 

 ferent dialets have it, the Ximenia elliptica, Forst. It 

 is a sea-side shrub, having simple leaves, and a spherical 

 fruit containing a kernel like a cherry-stone, and emit- 

 ting, especially when green, a most powerful smell of 

 essential oil of almonds. The fruit when quite ripe is 



Y 2 



