DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 395 



This plant varies in the shape of its leaves and the amount (if pubescence. It is 

 closely allied to Urena ?o6ato, the " mautofu " of the Samoans. The stem yields a 

 good fiber, of which cordage is made in Japan, but this is not utihzed in Guam. 



A common plant in oi)en places; of wide tropical distribution. It blooms the 

 latter part of October. 

 References: 



Urena sinuata L. Sp. PI. 2: 692. 1753. 

 TJrticaceae. Nettle family. 



Among the indigenous urticaceous jjlants are the "amahayan," BiH-hnin-in tnvi- 

 cissima, which in cultivation produces the celebated rhea fiber; an allied plant 

 with fulvous pubescence called "sayiafi" (not yet identified); Piptunis argenteus, the 

 "Queensland grass-cloth plant," called in Samoa " fau-soiigfi ;" E/afostema pechinrx- 

 lata, a plant of the forest, which bears sessile red spherical fruit; the nettle-like 

 Schychowskya interrupta, with coarsely toothed acuminate leaves; the glabrous Schy- 

 chotvskya ruderalis; and Pellionia divaricata. 



Urtica arg-entea Forst. Same as Pij)tunis argenteus. 



Urtica interrupta L. Same as Schi/chowskya interrupta. 



Urtica ruderalis Forst. Same as Schychovskya ruderalh. 



Urtica tenacissima Roxb. Same as Boehmeria tenacissima 



Uto (Fiji). See Artocarpus communis. 



Uto-sori (Fiji). See Arlocarp^is communis; seeded variety. 



'Uto'uto (Samoa). See Mussaenda frmidosa. 



Utud or Utug' ( Guam ) . See Icacorea sp. 



Uuma or Ououma. A name referred by (Jaudichaud to Panicum gaudichaudii; 

 more correctly," umog." 



Uvi (Fiji). See Dioscorea alata. 



Vallisneriaceae. - Tapegr.\ss family. 



The only representative of this family in Guam is Haloplnia oralis. 



Vanilla fasciola Gaudich. Same as Taeniophyllum fasciola. 



Velvetleaf. See Tournefortia argentea. 



Verbenaceae. Verbena family. 



This family is represented in Guam by the genera Clerodendron, Vitex, and 

 Premna. 



Verbesina alba L. Same as Eclipta alba. 

 Verbesina argentea. 



In the botany of the Voyage de I'Uranie, Gaudichaud mentions among the plants 

 growing on the hills back of Agafia and Umata, in places where the vegetation was 

 scant, a "Verbesina with silver leaves." This is included in Endlicher's list of South 

 Sea Island plants as '■'Verbesina? argentea Gaudich. ad Freyc. 464. — Guam archipelagi 

 Mariannae (Gaudich. )." « The plant is not furtlier known. In the locality referred 

 to I have collected two species of yellow composites, both of whi(;h are allied to 

 Verbesina, one of them, Stemmodontia canescens, with silvery canescent leaves. It is 

 probable that this is the plant referred to l)y Gaudichaud as the "silvery-leaved 

 Verbesina." 



References: 



Verbesina argentea Gaudich. Bot. Freyc. Voy. 463. 1826. 

 Verbesina biflora L. Same as Stemmodontia biflora. 

 Verbesina canescens Gaudich. Same as Stemmodontia canescens. 



«Annalen des Wiener Museums, vol. 1, p. 169, 1836. 



