214 USEFUL PLANTS OP GUAM. 



Capsicum annuum grossum. Bell pepper. 



Local names. — Doni (Guam); Chile ancho (Mexico); Chile de Casti 11a (Philip- 

 pines). 

 This plant has long been cultivated in Guam. Its flesh is not pungent, and the 

 natives frequently prepare it for the table by stuffing it with minced meat and then 

 cooking it. It grows here almost like a shrub to the height of 90 cm., and bears 

 prolifically. Fruit oblong or truncate, about 10 cm. long by 4 cm. in diameter, often 

 lobed and usually with a basal depression. Cultivated in every garden on the island. 

 References: 



Capsicum annuura grossum (L. ) Sendt. Mart. Fl. Bras. 10: 147. 1846. 

 Capsicum grossum L. Mant. 1:47. 1767. 

 Capsicum baccatum. Same as Capsicum frutescens baccatum; see under Capsicum 



frutescens. 

 Capsicum frutescens. Spur pepper. Cayenne pepper. 



Local names. — Doni (Guam); Ajf (Spanish). 

 A shrubby perennial, 90 to 180 cm. high, with prominently angled or somewhat 

 channeled stem and branches; leaves broadly ovate, acuminate; peduncles slender, 

 often in pairs, usually longer than the fruit; calyx cup-shaped, embracing the base of 

 the fruit; fruit red, obtuse or oblong-acuminate, very acrid. It is possible that the 

 original form from which this plant has developed through cultivation is that known 

 as Capsicum minimum Roxb., to which, according to Engler, theallied varieties revert 

 when left to themselves. The bird pepper (Capsicum frutescens baccatum) has round 

 or ovate fruit about 6 mm. in diameter. In the Philippines it is called "chileng 

 bundok." 



References : 



Capsicum frutescens L. Sp. PL 1: 189. 1753. 

 Capsicum grossum. Same as Capsicum annuum grossum. 

 Capulao (Philippines). See Herpetic/ alata. 

 Carambola. See Averrhoa carambola. 

 Carapa moluccensis. Same as Xylocarpus granatum. 



Cardiospermum halicacabuni. Balloon vine. 



Family Sapindaceae. 



Local names. — Farolitos, Bombillas (Spanish). 

 A climbing herb, with wiry stem and branches, and alternate biternate leaves; leaf- 

 lets coarsely dentate; flowers irregular, polygamo-dioecious, in axillary racemes, 

 white, very small; lowest pair of pedicels developed into spiral tendrils; sepals 4, 

 concave, the two outer ones small; petals 4, in pairs, the 2 greater lateral ones usually 

 adhering to the sepals; stamens 8, excentric; ovary 3-celled; style short, trifid; 

 ovules solitary; fruit an inflated, broadly pear-shaped capsule. 



This plant is widely distributed throughout the Tropics. Its root given in decoc- 

 tion is said to be aperient. On the Malabar coast the leaves are administered in 

 pulmonary complaints. In the Moluccas the leaves are cooked as a vegetable. 

 It was collected by Gaudichaud on the island of Rota. 

 References: 



Cardiospermum halicacabum L. Sp. PI. 1: 366.1753. 

 Carex densiflora. Sedge. 



Family Cyperaceae. 

 A sedge with numerous dense, lanceolate spikelets, arranged in a branching, 

 bracted spike; spikelets androgynous, staminate above, pistillate below; scales tipped 

 with a bristle, the female nearly round, the male ovate-lanceolate, bristles rough; 

 ovary inclosed in an oblong, compressed, striate perigynium, contracted at the top, 

 with a small bidentate opening through which protrudes the 2-cleft style; perigyn- 



