212 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



Canna indica. Caxna. Indian shot. 



Family Cannaceae. 



Local names. — Mango halom-tano (Guam); Fana-raanu (Samoa); Aliipoe 



(Hawaii); Cafia de cuentas, Coyol (Mexico): Blumenrohr (Grerman); Balisier 



de I'Inde (French). 



A well-known plant cultivated all over the world for ornamental purposes and 



growing without cultivation in most tropical countries. Stem erect, about 90 to 120 



cm. high; leaves large, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, clasping the stem; flowers red; 



sepals 3, imbricate; petals 3, narrow, subequal, with recurved tips; staminodes 3, 



longer than the petals; ovary 3-celled, the cells with many ovules; style linear, flat, 



growing together below with the staminodial whorl, free above; stigma apical, often 



decurrent on one side; capsule warty; seeds round, black, very hard. 



In India the seed are sometimes used fo"r shot and are made into necklaces and 

 other ornaments: They yield a purple dye, but it is not permanent. An allied 

 species, Canna eduUs, is cultivated in the West Indies for the sake of the starch 

 derived from its fleshy rhizomes. In Colombia starch is obtained from Canna indica, 

 but it is not so good as that of Canna edulis. 

 Eefkrexces: 



Canna indica, L. Sp. PI. 1 : 1. 1753. 



Cannon-ball tree. See Xylocarpus granatum. 

 Capa de la reina (Guam). 



The blue pea or "queen's cloak." See Clitoria tematea. 

 Capayo (Philippines). See Carica papaya. 

 Caper. See Capparis mariana. 

 Capili (Philippines). See Aleuriles moltKcana. 

 Capoc (Philippines). See Ceiba penlandra; the silk-cotton tree. 

 Capparidaceae. C.vper family. 



This family is represented In Guam by Cleome viscosa and Capparis mariana. 



Capparis mariana. Mauanxe capeb. 



Family Capparidaceae. 



Local names. — Alcaparro (Spanish, Guam); Alcaparro de Marianas (Philip- 

 pines). 

 A shrub growing near the sea, with large, white, fragrant flowers, and lai^ edible 

 seed capsules. Trunk and limbs rough, covered with small protuberances, but not 

 thorny; leaves alternate, subreniform, obtuse, emarginate, smooth, soft, and rather 

 fleshy; petioles short; flowers solitary in the axils of the leaves, long-pedicelled; sta- 

 mens numerous; fruit elongate, 6-ribbed; seeds many, embedded in pulp. 



This plant is abundant on the island. The natives make very good pickles of the 

 unripe capsules. It has been introduced into the Philippines, where it is known as 

 the "caper of the Marianne Islands." The flowers are sometimes pink. It appears 

 from the archives at Agana that some of the early governors of Guam exported the 

 fruit in considerable quantities, employing the natives to gather it. 

 References: 



Capparis mariana Jacq. Ilort. Schoenbr. 1: 57. (. lOH. 1797. 

 Capparis spinosa mariana K. Schu. Bugler's Jahrb. 9: 201. 1887. 



Capriola dactylon. Bermuda grass. 



Family Poaceae. 



Local names. — Grama (Guam, Cuba); Manfenie (Hawaii); Mati (Earotonga); 

 Doorba-graas, Doob-grass (Bengal); Bahama grass (West Indies). 

 A grass with prostrate stems, widely creeping and forming matted tufts with short 

 ascending branches. Leaves short, subulate, glaucous; ligule hairy; spikelets minute, 



