8<H') USEFt'L M.ANTS OF GUAM. 



Verbesina nodiflora L. Same as Fiynedrella nodijlom. 



Verdolaga (Spanisli). Purslane. Hee Portulaca oleracea. 



Verdolaga de Costa (Spanit-h, Cuba). Sea purslane. See Sesuviumportulacastrum. 



Verdura (Spanish). 



Tlu' <ri'ni'ral name for <rreenH or pot-lierbs; in Liuam called "golae." 



Vernonia cinerea. Gray ironweed. 



Family Asteraceae. 

 A pubescent annual composite with small rayless heads of pinkish-violet flowers. 

 Stem 15 to 80 <'m. lii^di, erect, stiff, cylindrical, grooved and ril)bed, sometimes hoary- 

 pubescent, slightly l)ranched; leaves distant, the lowest 5 cm. long but gradually 

 smaller upwards, broadly oval to linear-lanceolate, tapering to base, subobtuse, 

 apiculate, coarsely and shallowly crenate-serrate, more or less hairy on both sides; 

 petiole () to 18 mm. long; heads of flowers small on long stalks, in lax divaricate ter- 

 minal corynd)s; involucre bracts linear, nmcronate, silky, flowers 20 to 25; achene 

 not ribbed, hairy; pappus white, outer row very short. 



A conmion weed in waste places and on abandoned clearings, flowering all the 

 y(»ar. Wiilely spread throughout the Tropics. It varies according to conditions of 

 light, moisture, and character of soil. 

 References: 



Vernonia eincrea (L. ) Less. Linnfea 4: 291. 1829. 

 nmym rhvrra Iv. Sp. PI. 2: 862. 1753. 



Vernonia parviflora Reinw. Same as Vernonia cinerea. 



Vernonia villosa. Woolly ironweed. 



A puberulous or woolly composite with rayless heads of flowers 8 mm. in dia- 

 meter. Branches slender-cylindrical; leaves sessile or petioled, ovate, elliptic, or 

 elliptic-lanceolate, subserrate; heads 20 to 30-flowered, scattered or binate or ternate; 

 involucre bracts pubescent, lanceolate, nmcronate; achenes 4 or 5-ribbed, glabrous, 

 glandular; pappus white. 



This si)ecies was collected in Guam by Haenke and afterwards by Chamisso. It 

 is widely distributed in the Tropics, occurring in southern Asia, the Philippines, and 

 on several islands of Polynesia. 

 References: 



Vernonia riUosa (Blume). 



Comjza cldnensh Lam. Encyc. 2: 83. 1786, not L. Sp. PI. 2: 862. 1753. 



Centratherum chinense Less. Linn^ea 4: 320. 1829. 



Vernonia chinensis Less. Linnfea 6: 105, 674. 1831. 



Ci/anthiUium riUomm Blume, Bijdr. 889. 1826. 



Via (Fiji Islands). See Alocusia indica. 



Vigna sinensis. Chinese asparagus hean. 



Family Fabaceae. 



Local names. — Sitao (Philippines); Twining cowpea (United States). 

 A twining variety of the well-known "cowpea," bearing long slender legumes 

 which the natives eat as a vegetable. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, stipules large, 

 attached above the base; leaflets membranous, ovate-rhomboidal, entire or slightly 

 lobed, terminal leaflet 5 to 15 cm. long, long-stalked; racemes axillary, few-flowered, 

 long-peduncled; calyx campanulate; corolla much exserted; keel truncate; stamens 

 diadelphous; anthers uniform; pod very long, many-seeded. 



Commonly cultivated in the gardens of Guam, trailing along the fences of inclos- 

 ures. Flowers large, white or pale purple. 

 References: 



Vigna sinensis (Stickman) Endl.; Hassk. PI. Jav. Rar. 386.1848. 

 Dnlichos sinensis Stickman, Ilerl). Amb. 1754; Amoen. Acad. 4: 132. 1759; L. 

 Cent. PI. 2: 28.1756. 



