'J(')S USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



u\<\<vv talK'scent; hypogynous bristles 5 to 8, rarely fewer; stamens 1 to 3, anterior; 

 antluTs liiu'ar-(>l)l()ng, not crested; style linear, as long as nut, 2 or 3-(id; t;tyle base 

 <lilati'(l, constrlctt'd, or apparently articulated on nut, but usually persistent. Nut 

 ubovoiil, plano-i'onvex (when style is bifid), or trigonous (when style is trilid). 



The stem is robust, terete, transversely septiite when dry, spikelet dark straw- 

 colored, hardly wider than stem, elongated, many-flowered. Plant stoloniferous, 

 stolons long, 4 mm. in diameter; stems 30 to 90 <-m. high, slender; sheaths mem- 

 branous, soon torn. 



Jn Ceylon sleeping niats are made of the culms of this species, specimens of w iiidi 

 are preserved in the Kew Museum. In Madagascar the natives braid them into 

 mats, baskets, ami hats.« 



Klil'KKKNt'Es: 



Eleochant^ phmtag'moidea (Kottb. ). 



Scirpitx pidiihujinoides Hotth. Desc. et Ic. PI. 4.'>. 1.15. f.2. 1773. 

 Scirinis j)l(iiit(«jiii(un Retz. 01)S. 5: 14. 17S9. 

 Eli'nrjKin^ pliinbujhmi K. Br. Prod. 224. 1810. 

 Elephantopus scaber. Blue elephant's-foot. 



Family Asteraceae. 



Lot AL NAMES. — Lcugua de vaca (Porto Rico); Erva da Collegio (Brazil). 

 A stiff hairy herb, 30 to 90 cm. high, with wrinkled, crenate, cuneate radical 

 leaves. Stem dichotomously branching; cauline leaves lanceolate, floral ones broadly 

 cordate, acuminate, canescent; heads very numerous, sessile, closely packed, form- 

 ing a large flat-topped terminal inflorescence nearly 2.5 cm. wide, and surrounded 

 at the base with 3 large, stiff, broadly ovate, conduplicate, leafy bracts; involucral 

 bracts 8, in two rows, linear, acuminate, the outer ones half as long as the inner 

 and scarious, flowers exserted; corolla tube long, very slender, lobes widely spread- 

 ing; style very much exserted, tapering, pubescent, its branches recurved; achene 

 truncate, nearly glabrous. 



Widely distributed in the Tropics. Introduced into Guam. Flowers bright pale 

 violet; a small amplexicaul acute leaf at each bifurcation of the scabrous flowering 

 stem. Used as a remedy for asthenic fever. 

 References: 

 Elephantopus scaber L. Sp. PI. 2: 814. 1753. 

 Elephantopus spicatus. White elephant's-foot. 



Local names. — Dilang usa, Habal (Philippines). 

 A branched, rigid, i)erennial herb of American origin, but now widely spread in 

 the Tropics. Glomerules 2 or 3-bracteate, in interrupted, spreading, compound spikes; 

 flowers white; heads few-flowered, discoid, 1 to 3 in a glomerule; pappus 1 -serial, 

 uneijnal, with several of the stouter bristles l)ent ujiward and downward below the 

 summit. The inferior leaves are spathulate-oblong, variable in breadth, subentire or 

 crenate; superior leaves lanceolate; heads long-linear, 3 or 4-flowered. 



A conunon, troublesome weed, growing usually by roadsides and in waste places. 

 Collected in (Juam by Chamisso. 

 References: 



Elephantopus spicatus Aubl. PI. Gui. 2: 808. 1775. 

 Eleusine aeg-yptiaca. Same as Dactyloctenium aegyptiacum. 



Eleusine indica. Yard grass. 



Family Pocaeae. 



Local names. — Umog (Guam); Pata de gallina (Cuba). 

 A tufted grass with flat leaves and digitate spikes at the summit of the culm. 

 Spikelets several-flowered, sessile, closely imbricated in two rows on one side of tho 



a Baron, Economic plants of Madagascar, Kew Bull., vol. 45, p. 211, 1890. 



