298 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



Jesuits. They were much more to the taste of Europeans than the yams of the 

 island and were among thejsupplies most prized by the whalers visiting the island. 

 The natives seldom grew them for their own use, but contented themselves with 

 yams, exchanging the sweet potatoes for fabrics and other things brought by the 

 ships. 



Sweet potatoes grow very well in Guam. They are among the crops which will 

 thrive on the high land or "mesa" in places where the soil is too much exhausted 

 ("cansado") for other things. 

 Eeferences: 

 Ipomoea batatas (L. ) Poir. Encyc. 6: 14. 1804. 

 Convolvulus batatas L. Sp. PI. 1 : 154. 1753. 

 Ipomoea biloba. Same as Ipomoea pes-caprae. 



Ipomoea choisiana. Purple morning-glory. 



Local names. — Pipa (Rarotonga); Tanga-mimi (Samoa). 

 Stems trailing, somewhat twining; leaves variable, not fleshy, 2 to 7 cm. long, 

 cordate or hastate at the base, acute or obtuse, mucronate, entire or more or less 

 dentate, or deeply 3 or 5-lobed { glabrous; petiole usually longer than the leaves; 

 flowers rather large, purple, on rather long glabrous pedicels, solitary or 2 or 3 from 

 a short common peduncle; bracts inconspicuous; sepals 7 mm. long, oboyate-oblong, 

 obtuse, mucronate, glabrous; corolla widely funnel-shaped; limb 3.5 cm. in diame- 

 ter, lobes apiculate; ovary 2-celled; capsule globose, glabrous; seeds smooth. 



A tropical seashore plant of wide distribution. First observed in Guam by 

 Gaudichaud. 

 References: 



Ipomoea choisiana. 



Convolvulus denticulaius Desrouss. in Lam. Encyc. 3: 540. 1789. 

 Ipomoea denticulata Choisy, Mem. Soc. Phys. Genev. 6: 467. 1833, not R. Br. 

 1810. 

 The binomial published by Choisy is preoccupied by the Ipomoea denticulata of 

 Robert Brown, and the specific name is therefore untenable, even though it be of 

 earlier date in combination with a different generic name. 



Ipomoea congesta. Island morning-glory. 



Family Convolvulaceae. 



Local names. — Fofgu (Guam); Koali, Koali awahia (Hawaii); Wa wuti (Fiji). 

 A stout twining plant, with cordate, acuminate leaves and azure blue flowers, 

 turning purple or reddish on drying. Lower part of stem wcody, leaves with broad 

 rounded sinus at the base and auricles, 7.5 to 11 cm. long, when young silky pubes- 

 cent on both faces; petioles 5 to 10 cm. long; peduncles bearing 2 or more flowers; 

 sepals herbaceous, acuminate; corolla tubular-campanulate, 5 to 7.5 cm. long, ciliate 

 at the bottom of the tube, as are also the bases of the style and stamens; stamens 

 one-half as long as the corolla; style as long as the stamens, the stigma entire, 

 globose; ovary supported by a campanulate disk; capsule globose, about the size of 

 a small cherry, splitting into halves, the two seeds dark brown, glabrous. 



The leaves of this planfrare sometimes 3-lobed and the apex less acuminate than 

 in the typical form. It grows on the island of Apapa, in the harbor of Apra, and 

 was referred to by Freycinet as Convolvulus trilobatus. It climbs among thickets. 

 The root is a powerful cathartic. 



It was first collected in Guam by Gaudichaud. It occurs in Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, 

 Samoa, Tanna, Norfolk Island, and on the east coast of Australia. 

 References: 

 Ipomoea congesta R. Br. Prod. 485. 1810. 

 Ipomoea denticulata. Same as Ipomoea choisiana. 

 Ipomoea insularis Steud. Same as Ipomoea congesta. 



