DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 257 



angled; flowers nodding; pedicels short, slender, rigid, jointed at the top, panicle 

 1 to 2 feet long, cuneiform; bracts spathaceous; flowers odorless; perianth white, 

 greenish, or bluish, the segments 6 to 8 mm. long, the 3 inner reflexed; anthers 

 linear, 2-porous; filaments much thickened at the top; anthers basifixed between the 

 lobes, reflexed; ovary 3-celled; style filiform, stigma minute; berry blue; seeds few, 

 testa black, shining. A plant widely spread in tropical Asia, Madagascar, Australia, 

 and Polynesia. Collected in Guam by Haenke. 

 References: 



DianeUa ensifolia (L.) DC. in Red. Lil. 1. 1. 1802. 



Dracaena ensifolia L. Mant. 1 : 63. 1767. 



DianeUa nemorosa Lam. Encyc. 2: 276. 1786. 

 Dianella nemorosa. Same as DianeUa ensifolia. 

 Dictyonema. See under Lichenes. 

 Dilang 1 usa (Philippines). See Elephantopus spicatus. 

 Dilao ( Philippines) . See Curcuma longa. 

 Dimeria chloridiformis. 

 Family Poaceae. 

 A grass growing in damp places. Spikelets 1-flowered, almost sessile, inserted 

 singly in the alternate notches of slender unilateral spikes, which are either solitary 

 or more frequently 2 or 3 together on a terminal peduncle; rachis not articulate; fre- 

 quently a tuft of short hairs under each spikelet; glumes 4, 2 outer empty ones 

 keeled, linear, rigid, not awned; the third empty, smaller, thin, hyaline, terminal 

 glume with a slender awn twisted at the base and bent back at or below the middle; 

 styles distinct; grain free, narrow, inclosed in the outer glumes. A slender branch- 

 ing annual with narrow ciliate leaves. Collected in Guam by Haenke. a 

 References : 



Dimeria chloridiformis (Gaudich. ) K. Sch. & Laut. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. in 

 der Siidsee 165. 1901. 



Andropogon chloridiformis Gaudich. Bot. Freyc. Voy. 412. 1826. 



Dimeria pilosissima Trin. Mem. Acad. Petersb. VI. 2: 336. 1833. 

 Dimeria pilosissima. Same as Dimeria chloridiformis. 



Dioscorea. Yams. 



Local names. — Nika, Dago, Gado (Guam); Torigo, TJbi, Tugui (Philippines); 



Alu (Hindustan); Kelengu (Malayan). 

 Yams formed one of the principal staples of food of the aborigines of Guam. They 

 were among the provisions supplied to the early navigators visiting the group, many 

 of whom designated them as "batatas," which has led some writers to the supposi- 

 tion that sweet potatoes were growing on the island before the discovery. Sweet 

 potatoes, however, have no vernacular name in Guam. They are called "kamutes," 

 a corruption of "camote," the name under which they are known to the Mexicans 

 and the Spanish Americans of the Pacific coast of America. The natives divide the 

 yams into two classes, which they call "nika" and "dago," respectively, the former 

 having orbicular, acuminate, deeply cordate leaves, and the latter sagittate leaves. 

 The leaves are sometimes quite variable, however, on the same plant, and much con- 

 fusion exists in the classification of the various species and varieties, b so that it is 

 impossible to determine the species with any degree of accuracy. Gaudichaud, the 

 botanist of Freycinet's expedition, counted seven kinds of "dago" and four of 

 "nika." He referred the dago to Dioscorea alata, for the varieties of which the 

 native names are such as "manilayam, bat yam, lizard yam, devil yam (not edible)," 

 etc. The varieties of nika bear a general resemblance to D. aculeata L. 



«Presl, Reliquiae Haenkeana, fasc. 4, p. 235, t. 38, 1830. 

 6 See Hooker, Flora Brit. Ind., vol. 6, pp. 288, 296, 1894. 



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