146 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



Apra there are inferior varieties of oranges, but in the districts of 

 Santa Rosa and Yigo, in the northern part of the island, and in Yona, 

 on the eastern coast, the oranges are excellent. 



Lemons and limes produce continuously in great quantities all the 

 year round. Among the introduced Annonaceae the sour sop (A. muri- 

 cata) is used for making jellies and preserves, and the bullock's heart 

 (A. reticulata) is eaten as a fruit, but it is inferior to the sugar 

 apple above mentioned. Citrons, pomelos, shaddocks, and bergamots 

 are abundant. Averrhoa caranibola, improperly called "bilimbines" 

 by the natives of Guam and the Filipinos, bears a translucent oblong 

 fruit with the cross section of a five-pointed star, which has a pleasant 

 acidulous flavor. Guavas grow spontaneously and produce abundantly. 

 Little use is made of the fruit, however, owing to the scarcity of 

 sugar on the island. Among introduced trees are the cashew (Ana- 

 cardium occide?itale, PI. XXIX) and the tamarind {Tamarindus 

 indica, PI. LXVI), neither of which have spread upon the island, but 

 which are found onty near villages or on the sites of ranches either in 

 cultivation or abandoned. 



Coffee and cacao. — Coffee and cacao have been introduced and 

 thrive well in Guam. Coffee receives little care. It will grow in 

 various situations and in almost any soil, and yields abundant harvests. 

 Often most of the houses of a village, as at Sinahana, are seen sur- 

 rounded by coffee bushes, and the fresh seeds sprout spontaneously 

 beneath the parent plant or if thrown upon the surface of the soil in a 

 shady place. There are no large plantations in the island, each faniil}' 

 planting enough only for its own consumption. The berries are 

 gathered, pulped, and hulled by hand. 



The cultivation of cacao is more difficult. The plants are very 

 tender. They have a long taproot which is easily broken, and the 

 plants do not bear transplanting well. They are very sensative to 

 violent winds, and must be planted in sheltered valleys. Both coffee 

 and cacao must be protected from the sun when very young. The use 

 of shade trees is not necessaiy in Guam, though, in starting a cacao 

 or coffee plantation, the intervening space between the rows of plants 

 is usually planted in bananas, which yield fruit and at the same time 

 serve to protect the tender young plants from the sun. 



Narcotics. —The principal narcotics cultivated on the island are the 

 betel palm and the betel pepper, which grew on the island before the 

 discovery, and tobacco, which was introduced by the Spaniards from 

 America. The betel palm, although frequently planted by the natives, 

 also grows spontaneously. Thousands of young plants may be seen 

 in the rich valleys of the southern part of the island where seeds have 

 fallen from the palms. The betel pepper is a vine with glossy green 

 leaves closely resembling the common black pepper (P'q>er nigrum). 

 It occurs only in a state of cultivation, but requires little care, the 



