10 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



though frequent mention is made of the uses of plants in this work, 

 the descriptions are in Latin, and the book is not available to the 

 average lay student. It occurred to me, therefore, that a popular 

 work on the useful plants of Polynesia would be welcome, and I set 

 out accordingly to gather together such information as I could for this 

 purpose. Many of the plants with which I became familiar I encoun- 

 tered on widely separated shores. Some of them I found bearing the 

 same name on islands whose inhabitants have had no intercommunica- 

 tion within historic times. These and kindred facts opened up an 

 alluring field of ethnological inquiry as to the origin and dispersal of 

 the inhabitants of the myriads of islands which dot the Pacific, a sub- 

 ject upon which I shall enter in an initial way during the course of 

 this work/' 



It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the valuable assistance 

 I have received in the preparation of this work from Mr. Frederick 

 V. Coville, Botanist of the United States Department of Agriculture; 

 Mr. O. F. Cook, Mr. Guy N. Collins, and Mr. F. L. Lewton, of the 

 office of tropical agriculture, and the late Mi'. Henry E. Baum. I am 

 indebted to Mr. Carl S. Scotield and Mr. Thomas H. Kearney for aid 

 and suggestions during its progress, and to Messrs. L/vster H. Dewey, 

 Rodney H. True, and V. K. Chesnut for references relating to the 

 fiber plants, medicinal plants, and poisonous plants included in my 

 lists. Acknowledgments are also due to Dr. H. W. Wiley and Mr. B. J. 

 Howard, of the Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture, for 

 investigations as to the cause of the acridity of the taro plant and for 

 fine micro-photographs showing the raphides, or needles of oxalate of 

 lime, found in its leaves; also for beautiful representations of extra- 

 floral nectaries of Ricinus and Gossypium. 



For notes on the agriculture of the island I am indebted to Don 

 Justo Dungca and Don Antonio Martinez, citizens of Guam, and for 

 botanical material forwarded to me since my departure from the island 

 to Rev. Jose Palomo and Mr. Atanasio T. Perez. 



In the determination of flowering plants I have been assisted by Mr. 

 E. S. Steele and Mr. Philip Do well, and of cryptogams by Mr. William 

 L. Maxon, of the National Herbarium. 



In conclusion, I wish to express my thanks to Mr. E. S. Steele and 

 Mr. F. L. Lewton for their great assistance in preparing this work 

 for publication and in helping me to correct the proof sheets. In 

 submitting it I venture to express the hope that it may fill a want 

 not only of travelers and students of botany, but also of settlers on 

 tropical islands and in other warm regions of the globe; and I trust 

 that it may be of some use to merchants and manufacturers seeking 

 new sources of tropical staples and raw materials. 



See p. 116. 



