DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 193 



tough. When strained the pulp yields a fine jelly. Foreigners are warned against 

 eating the uncooked fruit, the natives declaring that it will cause hiccoughs. Tarts 

 made of it have very much the flavor of rhubarb. The natives do not appear to 

 value the fruit very highly, but this may be owing to the scarcity of sugar, a large 

 proportion of which is necessary for making jelly and preserves, and to the abun- 

 dance of other fruits equally good or better. In India the unripe fruit is used in 

 dyeing, the acid acting probably as a mordant. The juice removes iron rust from 

 linen. The dried fruit is antiscorbutic and, together with the leaves and root, is used 

 as a remedy in fevers. 



The tree was introduced into Guam many years ago. Gaudichaud mentions it, 

 together with the allied Averrhoa bilimbi L. , a species in which the clustered, caulifloral, 

 pendant fruit is smaller and not angled, and the leaves have smaller and more 

 numerous leaflets. The latter species is no longer found on the island; it has 

 probably died out since Gaudichaud' s visit. 

 REFERENCES: 



Averrhoa carambola L. Sp. PI. 1: 428. 1753. 

 Awned beard grass. See Andropogon aciculatm. 

 Azafran (Spanish) . See Curcuma longa. 

 Azucena (Guam). See Polianthes tuberosa. 

 Baba (Guam). 



A plant belonging to the Arum family, with heart-shaped leaves 2 to 2.5 meters 

 long and reddish stems; probably a species of Alocasia. 

 Bacao, Bacauan, or Bakawan (Philippines). See Rhizophora mucronata and Bru- 



guiera gymnorhiza. 



Bacopa monniera. WATER HYSSOP. 



Family Scrophulariaceae. 

 LOCAL NAMES. Graciola (Cuba). 



A small, creeping, glabrous plant with rather thick, entire leaves and a pale biue 

 or nearly white flower growing in moist situations. Leaves obovate or oblong, entire 

 or crenate, without prominent veins; flowers few, on pedicels usually rather longer 

 than the leaves, with 2 small bracteoles under the calyx; calyx divided to the base 

 into 5 distinct sepals, the outer one oval, the others ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate; 

 corolla-tube scarcely so long as the calyx, the 5 lobes spreading, broad, as long as the 

 tube, the 2 upper ones rather smaller and less deeply separated than the others; 

 capsule ovid, shorter than the calyx, opening loculicidally in 2 valves, which at 

 length separate from the dissepiment and sometimes split into two. 



Common in Guam, especially in the cienaga, near Agana. In India it is used 

 medicinally by the Hindoos, who consider it to be aperient and a stimulant for the 

 secretion of urine. 

 REFERENCES: 



Bacopa monnieria (L.) Wettst. in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 4 3b : 77. 1891. 

 Gratiola monnieria L. Cent. PI. 2: n. 120. 1756; Amoen. Acad. 4: 306. 1759. 

 Monniera brownei Pers. Syn. 2: 166. 1807. 

 Herpestis monnieria H. B. K. Nov. Gen. et Sp. 2: 366. 1817. 

 Badyog (Guam). The seeds of the snuff-box sea-bean. See Lens phaseoloides. 

 Bahama grass. See Capriola dactylon. 

 Bahay ( Philippines ) . See A denanthera pavonina. 

 Bakao, Bakawan, or Bakawan (Philippines). See Rhizophora mucronata and 



Bruguiera gymnorhiza. 



Balangigan (Philippines). See Guettarda speciosa 

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