250 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



Common about Agafia, both the white-flowered and purple-flowered varieties. 

 Tlie leaves and seeds are sedative and narcotic. In India the seeds are often used as 

 a poison. 



References: ^ 



Datura fasluosaL. Syst. ed. 2. 932. 1759. 



Davallia heterophylla. See Humata helerophylla. 



Davallia solida. Glossy fern. Plate hi. 



Family l*olypudiaceae. 

 Local names. — Pugua machena (Guam). 

 A graceful fern, with glossy, divided fronds, climbing the trunks of forest trees and 

 growing upon their limbs, associated with Puli/podiinn ])Inj)nn(odf'><, Ci/cIopJtorus 

 adnascens, and XepJirolcpis spp. Rhizome stout, densely clothed with fibers; stipe 

 slender, strong, erect; fronds deltoid, tripinnatifid; apex with a moderately broad 

 undivided center; segments ovate-rhomboidal, deeply toothed, narrow and sharper 

 in fertile frond; veins uniform; texture coriaceous; sori nearly or quite marginal; 

 indusium semicylindrical. 



This species is widely spread throughout Polynesia, the Philippines, and the Malay 

 Peninsula. It has also been collected in Java. 

 References: 



Davallia solida Sw. Syn. Fil. 132, 375. 1806. 

 Trichomanes solidum Forst. f. Prod. n. 475. 1786. 



Dayflower. See Commelina. 



Delonix regia. Flame tree. 



Family Caesalpiniaceae. 



Local names. — Arbol del fuego (Philippines, Guam); Flamboyant; Peacock 

 flower. 

 A rapid-growing tree with broad top and wide-spreading branches. Leaves grace- 

 fully bipinnate, 30 to 60 cm. long with 10 to 20 pairs of pinna>, each pinna with 

 numerous small oval leaflets; flowers large, in large racemes, bright scarlet, the 

 upper petal striped with yellow; calyx-segments valvate; petals 5, clawed, obovate; 

 stamens 10, free, exserted; pod flat, strap-like, 15 to 60 cm. long. 



This handsome ornamental tree is a native of Madagascar. It has become widely 

 spread, and is now found in all tropical countries. It yields a yellowish or reddish 

 brown mucilaginous gum containing oxalate of lime. It is not yet well established 

 in Guam. 



References: 



Delonix regia (Boj.) Raf. Fl. Tellur. 2: 92. 1836. 

 Poinciana regia Boj. in Hook. Bot. Mag. 56: t. 2884- 1829. 

 Desmodium australe. Same as Meibomia umbellata. 

 Desmodium gang'eticuin. Same as Meibomia gangetica. 

 Desmodium triflorum. Same as Meibomia triflora. 

 Desmodium umbellatum. Same as Meibomia umbellata. 



Detergents, or plants used for cleaning. 



Citrus aurantium saponacea (fruit used for washing clothes and for the hair). 



Citrus bergamia (fruit used for washing the hair). 



Colubrina asiatica (leaves used in Samoa and Fiji). 



Lens phaseoloides (crushed stems saponaceous, used for washing). 



Devil's guts. See Cassytha filiformis. 

 Dewflower. See Commelina. 

 Dianella ensifolia. 

 Family Liliaceae. 

 A plant with leafy stem and cymose panicles of small flowers. Leaves rigid, 

 distichous, linear-lanceolate, the bases equitant or overlapping, the sheaths acutely 



