378 USEFUL PLANTS OF (iUAM. 



Stizolobium giganteum. Sea-bean. Great ox-eyid bean. 



Family Fahaceat'. 

 Local namks. — Akankan dafifikulo (Guam); Nipay, Lipay (Philippines); Tu tai 



huaa (Tahiti); Faso-gatiuga (Solomon Island); Kakatea (Rarotonga); Kaeee 



(Hawaii); Ojo de venado (Spanish). 

 A woody flimluT with f^lender glabrous branches, compound tendrils, and trifolio- 

 late leaves with long petioles; leaflets .subcoriaceous, glabrous, the terminal one 

 oblong-cuspidate, 12 to 15 cm. long by 8 cm. broad, the lateral ones very oblique; 

 flowers pale greenish yellow, 12 to .'{0 in long-pedunded, drooping, close racemes; 

 j)ediccls 2.0 cm. long; calyx-tulie canipaiiulate; two upper teeth connate, truncate; 

 lowest longer than the middle ones; corolla ;». 5 cm. long; standard retle.xed, not n)ore 

 than half a.s long as the rostrate keel; keel not abruj)tly inflexed at the end; stamens 

 diadeli>hous, the upper one free, the rest united; anthers dimorphous; pod broadly 

 winged down both sutures, l)ut not plaited on the faces, 8 to lo cm. by 5 cm., flat on 

 the faces, copiously clothed with al)un(laiit <leciduous yellow-brown irritating bristles, 

 2 to 6-seeded; seeds large, orbicular, hard, bony, uniforndy brown or Avith black 

 lines, the raphe extending over three-fourths of the circumference. 



The seeds are sometimes used as watch charms; powdered, they are used as an 

 aphrodisiac. This plant is w'idel)^ spread in Polynesia, tropical Asia, and eastern 

 Australia. It was first collected in Guam by Gaudichaud. Grows on the edge of 

 the forests and in thickets along the roadside, sometimes climbing over high trees. 

 Eeferences: 



Stizolobiinn f/igatUeum (Willd.) Spreng. Sj^st. Ant. 4: Cur. Post. 281. 1827. 



Dolichos giganteus WiM. Sp. PI. 2:1041.1801. 



ifucima gigantea DC. Prod. 2:405.1825. 

 Stizolobium pruriens. Cowhage. Cowitch. 



Local NAMES. — Picapica (Spanish); Nipay (Philippines). 

 The pods of this species are devoid of plaits or wings, but have a longitudinal rib 

 along the whole length of each valve, and are densely covered with orange-brown, 

 brittle, irritant hairs pointing backward and easily detached. They are 6 to 8 cm. 

 long and al)Out 1.5 cm. broad, linear, blunt and curved at both ends. They are 4 to 

 6-seeded with partitions between them; seed small (about 6 mm. in diameter) ovoid, 

 compressed, brownish mottled with black, the hilum short, oblong, not half the 

 length of the seed. The ])lant is a semiwoody twiner with large trifoliolate leaves 

 and purplish jjapilionaceous flowers growing in slender racemes. Branches usually 

 clothed with short white, deflexed hairs; leaflets on short thick, hairy stalks, rachis 

 8 to 13 cm. long, sparingly deflexed-hairy, stipules linear, setaceous-hairy; terminal 

 leaflet smallest and rhomboid-oval, lateral ones very obliquely deltoid, all acute, 

 mui-ronate, covered with silvery hair beneath. 



The hairs of the pod, known as cowhage in medicine, are mixed with honey or 

 molasses and given as a vermifuge. The powdered seeds are used in India as an 

 aphrodisiac, and the young green pods are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. 

 Refekexces: 



Stizolobium pruriens (Stickman) Medic. A'orles. Churpf. Phys. Ges. 2:399. 1787. 



Dolichos prnriens Stickman, Herb. Amb. 1754; Amoen. Acad. 4: 132. 1759. 



Miirciia pruriens DC. Prod. 2: 405. 1825. 



Strand plants. 

 The principal species growing on the shore of the island are the following: 

 Barringtonia racemosa. — Laiigaasag. 

 Barringtonia speciosa. — Puting. 

 Bruguiera gymnorhiza. — Mangle macho. 

 Canavali obtusifolium. — Seaside l)ean. 

 Casuarina equisetifolia. — Sago. 

 Cocos nucifera. — Niyog. 



