388 USEFCL PLAXTS OF GUAM. 



The cacao jilantations ot Guam suffer greatly from tlie ravages of the brown, 

 Norway, rat (Mux dccumanus), which overruns the island and is a great pest. Thes 

 animals are immoderately fond of the beans, and sometimes destro)- whole crops 

 The trees are comparatively short-lived, often beginning to die at the top when 1 

 years old, and are subject to the attack of lioring insects. On this account and o 

 account of the sensitiveness of the trees to hurricanes, which are not rare in Guan 

 cacao is mit cultivated extensively, the natives preferring to devote their energies t 

 clearing land for the longer-lived and hardier coconuts, which yield goo(i and certai 

 returns. In places where conditions of soil and moisture are favoralile for caca 

 culture, it is recommended that belts of forest be left as a protection from wine 

 Where the forest has been destroyed, artificial wind-breaks may be formed by plan) 

 ing trees and A\ild yams, which quickly form a solid matting of vegetation. ] 

 leguminous trees are planted they will undoubtedly be a benefit to the soil as storei 

 of nitrogen. 



Refekexces: 



Theuhroiiui cacao L. Sp. PI. 2: 782. 1753. 

 Thespesia populnea. MiLc 



Family Malvaceae. 



Loc-VL NAMES. — Kilulu, Qui'lulu ( Guam ) : Bulakan, Bubui gubat (Philippines! 



Mulo (Fiji); ililo (Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaii); Miro (Rarotonga) 



Bonabeng (Yap); Pona, Peua, Pana (Ponape); Bengibeng (Gilbert Islands) 



Kaikaia (Bougainville Straits); Suriya-gas (Ceylon): Umbrella tree, Tuli 



tree (British India); Majagua dc Florida (Culia); Palo de jagueca (Port 



Rico). 



A tree gr<iwing near the coast, with showy yellm\' flowers which change to 



purplish-pink color on withering. Branches spreading; young twigs covered wit' 



peltate scales; leaves 7 to 12 cm. long, Ijroadly ovate, entire, acute, or acuminate 



(.■ordate at liase, pahnately 7-Yeined, miire or less covered on both sides Avith niinut 



peltate scales, sometimes with a glandular pore beueath between the liases of th 



veins; petioles 2.5 to 7.5 cm. long, stipules subulate, deciduous; fiowers axillary, sol: 



tary, campanulate, 5 to 7.5 cm. in diameter; peduncles 2.5 to o.5 cm. long, bracteolt 



lacking or very early deciduous; calyx cup-shaped, truncate, the teeth obscure! 



marked; petals 5; stamens indefinite, filaments forming a tube; capsule aliont 2. 



cm. long, depressed globose, somewhat lobed, -lord-celled, surroumled at the base b 



the pei-sistent calyx, more or less covered with peltate scales, indehiscent or irrcgu 



larly dehiscent; seeds woolly, large, compressed. As in many species of Hibiscus 



the 5 styles are connate, or grow together; ovary 4 or 5-celled, with many ovules i: 



each cell ; stigma clul>-shaped. 



A favorite shade tree, growing wild and often planted about villages in Polynesia 

 The heartwood is hard, smooth, durable, and of a dark-red color. The Hawaiian 

 sometimes make poi calabashes of it, and it has lieen called "Polynesian rosewood.' 

 The bark is tough and fibrous, but for dinlage is inferior to that of Pariti tiliaccum 

 It is one of the commonest trees of Guam. This tree is of very wide distribution 

 It ranges from tropical Asia, Africa, and ^Madagascar across the Pacific to Hawai 

 and Easter Islaml, and also occurs in tropical America and the West Indies. Th 

 identity of its name in islands so widely separated as Rarotonga and Hawaii i 

 interesting. 



Refekexces; 



Tliespesia populiim (L. ) Soland. ; Correa, Ann. ^Mus. Par. 9: 2!I0. /. s. j. J. 1807 

 Hibiscus populneus L. Sp. PI. 2: 694. 1753. 

 JInJrarliacns jiopubieus Gvertn. Fruct. 3: 253. (. 135. J. d. 1791. 

 Thorea gaudichaudii. See Alga:. 

 Thornapple. See Datura Jastuona. 



