286 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



A variegated-leaved shrub quite common in gardens and often planted in rows 

 near the houses, so as to receive the drippings from the thatched roofs. Leaves 

 glabrous, petioled, opposite, ovate-lanceolate or broadly elliptic, narrowed at both ends, 

 entire, usually variegated with white irregular patches, which frequently resemble a 

 profile of the human face; flowers crimson, pedicelled, clustered in terminal thyrses, 

 with very small, narrow, curved bracts and bracteoles, calyx small, sub-5-partite; 

 segments equal, linear-lanceolate, corolla tube curved; limb 2-lipped, upper lip 

 shortly 2-fid, lower 3-lobed; stamens 2, with 2 minute staminodes; anthers oblong, 

 2-celled; cells parallel, without points; ovary with 4 ovules; style filiform, scarcely 

 bifid; capsule oblong, hard, contracted into a long stalk; seeds usually 2, orbicular 

 or subquadrate, flat, lacunose-rugose. 



This plant is probably a native of Java, but has been spread widely and is found 

 in gardens in nearly all tropical countries. There are varieties having the leaves 

 of a dark-claret color and other with green leaves. In some parts of India the 

 natives use the leaves as soap. 

 REFERENCES: 



Graptophyllum pictum (L.) Griff. Notul. 4: 139. 1854. 

 Justida picta L. Sp. PL ed. 2. 1 : 21. 1762. 



Graptophyllum hortense Nees in Wall. PI. As. Ear. 3 : 102. 1882. 

 Grasses. 



Andropog-on aciculatus. Awned beardgrass. A species widely spread in the 

 Tropics; good pasture, but disagreeable on account of its adherent spikelets and 

 awns. 



Andropogon nardus. Lemon grass. A fragrant, lemon-scented grass, planted 

 by the natives near their houses; said to have been introduced into the island 

 fnom the Carolines. 



Bambos bluxneana. Thorny bamboo. A handsome species, with hard, durable 

 stalks, which resist the attacks of insects; used by the natives for making inclos- 

 ures, and in the construction of their houses and ranchos; also as water vessels 

 and receptacles for cocoanut sap. 



Bambos sp. An unarmed bamboo, called by Gaudichaud B. arnndinacea, possi- 

 bly a species of Schizostachyum; inferior to the preceding in strength and dura- 

 bility; subject to the attacks of insects. 

 Capriola dactylon. The well-known Bermuda grass, common in the lawns 



about the houses of the natives; grows well and without care in sandy soil. 

 Centotheca lappacea. A broad-leaved robust grass, known as bur grass, grow- 

 ing near the sea and in damp upland regions; good fodder for cattle; found also 

 in Samoa, the Caroline Islands, Philippines, Andaman Islands, and the East 

 Indies. 

 Chaetochloa glauca aurea. Golden foxtail. A grass with its inflorescence in 



spike-like clusters. 

 Coix lachryma-jobi. Job's tears. Seeds hard, stony; sometimes strung into 



necklaces or rosaries. 



Dactyloctenium aegyptiacum. Goose grass. Growing in yards and waste 

 places; a coarse grass with creeping habit of growth; naturalized in the United 

 States. 



Dimeria cliloridiformis. A grass with ciliate leaves growing in damp places. 

 Echinochloa colona. Jungle rice. A grass allied to our barnyard grass (E. crus- 



galli), but with awnless scales. 



Eleusine indica. Yard grass; a tufted grass with flat leaves and digitate spikes 

 at the summit of the culm; common in yards; naturalized in the United States. 

 In Guam called "umog." 



Eragrostis pilosa. A grass with erect, tufted, slender-branched culms; common 

 in yards and damp places; naturalized from Europe in the United States; eaten 

 by buffaloes and cattle. 

 Eragrostis plumosa. A slender annual grass common in sandy soils and often 



found in yards of natives; eaten by buffaloes and cattle. 



Eragrostis tenella. An annual grass with stiff, rather brittle, flowering stems, 

 and capillary branches bearing minute spikelets, which are often tinged, when 

 mature, with red; often found in cultivated fields; eaten by cattle; possibly 

 identical with the preceding. 



