390 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



Trunk short, bark deeply furrowed, pale; branchlets thick, marked with scars of 

 fallen leaves; twigs densely silky-pubescent; leaves closely placed at the end of 

 branches, 10 to 20 cm. long, oval or obovate-oval, much-tapering to base, rounded 

 or obtuse at apex, fleshy, densely covered with close silky, white, appressed hair; 

 petiole stout, short and obscure; flowers numerous, sessile, cymes peduncled, spread- 

 ing, with long branches, silky; buds globose; sepals ovate-rotund, imbricate, densely 

 silky-hairy; corolla rotate, over 6 mm. in diameter, lobes rotundate, spreading; 

 anthers sessile, large, at throat of corolla; ovary glabrous; stigma subsessile, obscurely 

 2-lobed; fruit the size of a small pea, depressed-globose, minutely apiculate, smooth, 

 brown; nutlets corky. 



The tree is of little economic value. Shoe lasts are sometimes made of the wood. 

 It is widely distributed in the Malay archipelago, the Indian and Pacific oceans. 

 The Polynesian names, signifying "scorched leaf," are applied to it on account of 

 the shriveled appearance of the dead leaves. 

 References: 



Toumefortia argentea L. f. Suppl. 133. 1781. 

 Tree-cotton. See Gossyjyium arboreum. 

 Tree ferns. 



The only tree fern thus far known in Guam is Alsophila haenkei Presl, a species 

 growing on the banks of streams, first collected by Haenke in 1792, and afterwards 

 by Gaudichaud, who called it Cyathca marianaJ' 

 Tree mignonette. See Lawsonia alba. 

 Trefoil, tick. General name for the species of Meibomia. 



Tribulus cistoides. Caltrops. 



Family Zygophyllaceae 



A trailing strand plant with yellow flowers resembling those of Cistus. Branches 

 procumbent or ascending; leaves silky, stipulate, abruptly pinnate; leaflets about 8 

 pairs, oblong, subequal; stipules falcate, acuminate; flowers solitary; sepals 5, 

 caducous, acuminate, silky; petals 5, obovate; disk annular, 10-lobed; stamens 10, 

 inserted on the base of the disk, 5 longer opposite the petals, 5 shorter with a little 

 gland outside; filaments filiform, naked; ovary sessile, hirsute; style short, stigmas 

 5; cocci almost woody, tubercled and hairy, usually 2-horned, partitioned internally 

 into several 1-seeded compartments. 



A widely spread strand plant, easily identified by its conspicuous yellow flowers 

 and horned woody cocci. Not common in Guam, where, according to the natives, it 

 is of recent introduction. A few plants observed on the sandy beach on the east 

 shore of the island between Pago and Talof6fo. 

 References: 



Tribulus cistoides L. Sp. PL 1: 387. 1" K 3. 

 Trichoon roxburghii. Reed. Marsh reed. 



Family Poaceae. 



Local names.— Karriso (Guam): Caiia, Carrizo (Spanish); Tambo, Tabunak 

 (Philippines); Yoshigo, Yoshi-dsuno (Japan); Nal, Nar, Karka (India); 

 Nalagas (Ceylon); Lu, Tih, Wei (China). 



A tall perennial grass with stems 2 to 4 meters high, common in marshes and 

 along the banks of streams. The inflorescence forms large spreading lax panicles, 

 with the flowers enveloped with long silky hairs. The plant is gregarious, having 

 creeping, stoloniferous rootstocks: stems stout, hollow, smooth, covered with the 

 leaf sheaths; leaves close together, growing in 2 vertical ranks, sword-shaped, with- 

 out ligule, but with a ridge of short hairs instead; panicle decompound, erect, more 



« Presl, Reliquiae Haenkeanae, vol. 1, p. 68, 1825. Gaudichaud, Freycinet's Voyage, 

 Botany, p. 365, 1826. 



