74 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



(hi'iUiiidhin cr'ida bus oi;iv polished round seeds of stony liiird- 

 noss, about the size of small niarhUvs. When shaken, these seeds, oi- 

 ''nieker-nuts,'" j;i\-e forth a lattlino- sound, owing- to the fact that the 

 kernel, consisting- of two elosely oppressed cot3dedons, fits loosely in 

 (he shell, leaving a large air space, which gives buoyancy to the seeds. 

 (IM. XV. tigs. 5, 6, 7.) 



'I'he se(>ds of Lcnx phmeolotdcs (PI. XV, tigs. 2, 3, 4) do not rattle 

 when shaken. Their kernels till the shell completely, but inclosed 

 between the two large cotyledons composing the kernel there is a 

 large air space when the seeds are quite mature and dry. The}" are 

 verv liiiht and lioat like ])ubbles on the surface of the sea. The seeds 

 of Stizolobium are easily distinguished from those of Lens by their 

 prominent raphe. Those of Lens have no raphe and are inclosed in 

 an enormous woody, saber-shaped pod (PI. LVl), consisting of many 

 distinct joints, with a strong woody suture surrounding the whole 

 legume. This suture is persistent and forms a sort of frame from 

 which the inclosed joints may be removed separately. Each joint (PI. 

 X\', tio-. 1) is in the form of a closed cell in which the bean tits looselv 

 and rattles about when shaken. This plant owes its very wide distribu- 

 tion to the buoyancy of its seed and its habit of growing near the sea. 

 Great num))ers of the seeds are thrown up each year by the Gulf 

 Stream on the Azores, but the plant has not succeeded in establishing 

 itself on those islands. Seeds collected there ))y Darwin were sent by 

 him to Sir Joseph Hooker. They were planted at Kew and many of 

 them germinated and grew to be fine plants, "showing th:>t their 

 immersion during a voyage of nearly 3.000 miles had not ati'ectetl their 

 vitality."'^ 



MoRiNDA ciTRiFOLiA.— This plant (PI. XVI), called '"ladda,'' or 

 " lada," by the natives of Guam, has seeds of unusual interest. Their 

 buoyancy is insured by a distinct air cell. They are frequently found 

 in the drift of tropical shores, and experiments have been made which 

 demonstrate the great length of time the}- w ill float in salt water. *^ 



the rocks about Jamaica, and is carried by tfie Winds and Current (which for the 

 most part go impetuously the same way) towards the coast of Florida, and thence 

 into the Northern Am. Ocean, whereas I mention p. 4. of my Catal. it lyes very 

 thick on the Surface of the Sea: But how they should come the rest of their Voyage 

 I cannot tell, unless it be thought reasonable, that as Shijis when they go South 

 expect a trade Easterly Wind, so when they come North, they expect and generally 

 find a Westerly Wind for at least two parts of three of the Year, so that the Beans 

 l>eing brought North ])y the Current from the Gulph of Florida, are put into these 

 AVesterly AVinds way, and may be supposed by this means at last to arrive in Scot- 

 land. Sloane, An Account of Four sorts of strange Beans, etc. ' ' Philosophical Trans- 

 actions, vol. 19, pp. 299, 300, 1696. 



i*.!. D. Hooker, Insular Floras, Gardeners' Clironicle, 1867, pp. 27, 51. 



cSee Schimper, Die indo-malayische Straudtiora, p. 165, pi. vii, tig. 26, b and c, 

 1891; also Guppy, The Dispersal of Plants, etc., Trans. Victoria Institute, vol. 27, p. 

 267, 1890. 



