DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 327 



Moringa moringa. HORSE-RADISH TREE. PLATE LVIII. 



Family Moringaceae. 



LOCAL NAMES. Marunggai (Guam); Malufiggai, Balunggai, Balonggai, Arongay, 

 Arungay (Philippines); Murungai, Murunga (Tamil); Murinna (Malayan); 

 Palo jermga (Cuba). 



A small tree with corky bark, soft wood, and pungent root having the taste of 

 horse-radish. Leaves pinnately compound, usually tripinnate; petiole slender, 

 sheathing at the base; pinnae 4 to 6 pairs; leaflets 6 to 9 pairs, opposite, pale beneath, 

 caducous as well as the pinnules, glandular at the base; petiolules slender; glands 

 linear, hairy; panicles axillary, spreading; bracts linear; flowers white, honey- 

 scented, irregular, bisexual, pediceled, 2.5 cm. in diameter; calyx cup-shaped, 

 5-cleft; segments unequal, petaloid, linear-lanceolate, reflexed; petals 5, unequal, 

 narrowly spathulate, upper smaller, lateral ascending, anterior larger; stamens 

 inserted on the edge of the disk, declinate, 5 perfect opposite the petals, alternating 

 with 5 which are reduced to antherless filaments; ovary stipitate, 1-celled; style slen- 

 der, tubular; stigma perforated; ovules numerous, in 2 series on 3 parietal placentas; 

 pod long, slender, pendulous, 9-ribbed; seeds 3-angled, winged at the angles. 



The seeds of this tree yield the " ben" oil of commerce, which is highly valued as 

 a lubricant by watchmakers. The young leaves, young pods, and flowers are used as 

 food in West Bengal; they are antiscorbutic; the root is used in place of horse-radish, 

 and medicinally as a rubefacient and counterirritant, like a mustard plaster. The 

 leaves and young branches are much relished by cattle and horses. In Nicaragua 

 they are cut for forage. 



Plants are easily raised from seed and are of rapid growth. The unripe seed-pods 

 are used in India for curries. When cut into pieces and cooked like asparagus or 

 string-beans they form a savory dish, but they are too fibrous to be a popular vegeta- 

 ble. In Bengal and upper India the seeds are planted in June and July, at the 

 beginning of the rainy season// 

 REFERENCES: 



Moringa moringa (L.) Millsp. Field. Col. Mus. Bot. Ser. 1: 490. 1902. 

 Guilandina moringa L. Sp. PI. 1 : 381. 1753. 

 Moringa pterygosperma Gaert, Same as Moringa moringa. 

 Morning-glory. See Ipomoea, Argyrda, Pharbitis, and Operculina. 

 Moso'oi (Samoa). See Canangium odoratum. 

 Mosses. 



The following mosses are recorded from the island of Guam, all of them collected 

 by Gaudichaud and determined by Schwaegrichen and Walker-Arnott. They were 

 first sent by Gaudichaud to Schwaegrichen, but many of the specimens were incom- 

 plete or without fruit, so that they could not be identified with absolute certainty. 

 Afterwards they were carefully examined by Walker-Arnott, who published a 

 paper on the "Disposition methodique des especes de Mousses," & in which were 

 included with a few changes the mosses of Schwaegrichen' s list. 



Bartramia uncinata Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 227. 



Hypnum cupressiforme Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 229. 



Hypnum delicatulum Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 229. 



Hypnum recurvans Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 229. 



Hypnum scaturiginum Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 228. 



Macromitrion urceolatum Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 224. 



Neckera undulata Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. "Bot. 228. 



Octoblepharum albidum Schwaeg. ex Walker-Arnott, p. 14. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 226. 



Syrrhopodon rigescens Schwaeg. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 226. 



Firminger, Manual of Gardening for Bengal, ed. 4, p. 140, 1890. 

 6 Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, 1825, p. 249. 



