Corrections and Additions to the Flora of the Hall Islands 
and to the Flora of Ponape 
Benjamin C Stone 1 
Since the publication of a check list of the 
plants collected in Namonuito and the Hall 
Islands (Caroline Islands) (Stone, 1959: 88- 
104), certain corrections and additions have 
come to the author’s attention. Owing to an 
oversight, the collection of plants made on Nom- 
win Atoll by F. R. Fosberg was not mentioned. 
Fosberg visited Nomwin on May 29 and 30, 
1946, and collected 52 specimens, including cer- 
tain mosses and fungi. A brief report was issued 
as carbon copies, but no critical determinations 
were included in it. Most of the specimens are 
now widely scattered to various institutions and 
so were unavailable to the present author. How- 
ever, only a few of these specimens have not 
been previously mentioned. Since the collections 
are currently being examined for the "Catalog 
of the Micronesian Flora,” they will not be cited 
here in detail. 
HALL ISLANDS 
DIOSCOREACEAE : Dioscorea sp. The yam, 
probably D. bulbifera, was collected on Nomwin 
(Fosberg no. 24589). 
PIPERACEAE: Piper fragile Bentham. Hook. 
J. Bot. 2: 234, 1843. This was first included 
(Stone, 1959: 100) as a tentative determination. 
It has now been substantiated by T. G. Yuncker 
(1959: 92) on the basis of Fosberg’s no. 24580 
from Nomwin. This species and P. ponapense 
C.DC. are also to be found on Namonuito. 
COMBRETACEAE: Terminalia Catappa L. Ob- 
served by Fosberg on Nomwin. 
The following corrections have been necessi- 
tated by further study or in agreement with 
recent research: 
davalli ACEAE : Nephrolepis hirsutula (Forst. 
f.) Presl. Tent. 79, 1836. At the suggestion of 
Dr. Fosberg, the plant previously cited as N. 
1 Department of Botany, University of Hawaii. 
Manuscript submitted June 9 , 1959 - 
biserrata (Sw.) Schott was re-examined, result- 
ing in this change. Even this, however, is per- 
haps still doubtful, and the distinctions between 
these two species and N. exaltata do not always 
seem clearly applicable to certain Micronesian 
specimens of this fern. 
LEGUMINOSAE: Canavalid microcarpa (DC.) 
Piper is listed by Kanehira ( 1935: 328), Glass- 
man (1953: 300), Anderson (1951: i), and 
Fosberg ( 1955 : 11) from various localities in 
Micronesia. Fosberg’s specimen from Nomwin 
(no. 24586) tentatively has been called C. mi- 
crocarpa. This may represent a second species of 
Canavalia in the Hall Islands, but the species 
of Micronesia require a broad and careful study 
to clarify their status and names. Kanehira ( l.c. ) 
lists four species, one of which (C. megalantha 
Merr.) is presumably restricted to Guam. Can- 
avalia ensiformis (L.) DC. was reported from 
Guam, Yap, and Jaluit. C. lineata (Thunb.) 
DC. was reported from Guam, and later from 
Truk (Hosokawa, 1937: 191). St. John (1951: 
282) has recorded C. sericea Gray (the type 
from Fiji) from the Marshall Islands. If the 
Guam endemic is truly so, there are thus five 
taxa to be considered, including C. maritima 
(Aublet) Thouars, which is recorded from Po- 
nape by Glassman ( 1952 : 74). That the genus 
includes a number of Pacific species is not to 
be doubted, but until a revision of the group 
is initiated, some confusion must exist about 
the occurrence and distribution of the Microne- 
sian species. 
EUPHORBI ACEAE: Phyllanth-us amarus Schum. 
& Thonn. This name should replace P. niruri 
L. (cf. Stone 1959: 102) . G. L. Webster (1956) 
has shown that the Pacific plants which gen- 
erally have been called P. niruri belong actually 
to P. amarus, and that the former is an Amer- 
ican species apparently not occurring in the 
Pacific. The plants from Ponape which have 
been called P. niruri probably also should be P. 
amarus. 
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