306 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. VII, July, 1953 
52. Fimbristylis atollensis St.John, Pacific 
Sci. 6: 145. 1952. 
"Apuson,” 2830. In coconut grove, com- 
mon. 
Gramineae 
53. Digitaria pruriens Biise, Miq. PL 
Jungh., 379. 1854. 
’Tahtil-muahn,” 2806. In coconut grove, 
common. 
54. Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn., Fruct. 
Sem. PL 1: 8. 1788. 
"Puhkahr.” Observed as weed in waste 
places. 
55. Eragrostis amabilis (L. ) Wight & Arn. 
ex Hook. & Arn., Bot. Beech. Voy., 251. 
1841. 
'Tahtil.” Observed as a common weed. 
56. Lepturus repens (Forst. f. ) R. Br., 
Prodr., 207. 1810. 
"Fahtil-muahn,” 2827. Common in coco- 
nut grove. 
57. Paspalum conjugatum Berg., Act. Helv. 
Phys. Math. 7: 129, pi. 8. 1762. 
”Fahtil-rawfut,” 2808. In coconut grove, 
frequent. 
58. Thuarea involuta (Forst. f. ) R. Br., 
Prodr., 197. 1810. 
"Fahtil,” 2826. Common in coconut 
grove. 
ETHNOBOTANY 
Species and native names of plants occur- 
ring on Mokil, Pingelap, and Ant are tabu- 
lated for comparison with those of the high 
islands in the Eastern Carolines— Kusaie, Po- 
nape, and Truk (Table 1). The islands are 
listed in geographical order with the south- 
ernmost island, Kusaie, listed first, and the 
northernmost, Truk, listed last. Most of the 
vernacular names were recorded by the present 
writer during visits to the various islands 
(except Truk); however, some names for 
Truk, Mokil, and Pingelap were taken from 
St. John (1948); some from Truk, Kusaie, 
and Ponape were derived from Fosberg (1946) ; 
and some others from Truk were extracted 
from Elbert (1947), Hosokawa (1937), and 
Kramer (1932). Asterisks preceding certain 
vernacular names (e.g., ”po maria” and "chi- 
lee”) indicate the name is of foreign origin. 
Omission of native names in some columns 
indicates one of three things : there is no rec- 
ord for the species, there is no record for the 
native name, or there is no known native name 
for the species. An analysis of Table 1 as to 
similarity or identicalness of vernacular names 
reveals linguistic affinities between the islands. 
Table 2 shows the number of similar or 
identical native names of the total narries re- 
corded for the two islands being compared 
in each instance; the percentage of similarity 
and the number of native and exotic plants 
are also indicated. Ant appears to show the 
greatest linguistic affinity with Truk. Of 50 
vernacular names recorded, 30 are identical 
or similar. Ponape, with 14 similar or iden- 
tical names out of 45, shows the next most 
important relationship with Ant. Pingelap (9 
of 44), Mokil (8 of 42), and Kusaie (4 of 38), 
follow in decreasing order of importance. 
Most of the present-day inhabitants of Ant 
are descendents of people who came from the 
Mortlock Islands (Fig. 1) at the beginning of 
the present century. 
As would be expected, Mokil shows the 
greatest linguistic affinity with Pingelap be- 
cause of their proximity. Of 56 native names 
in common, 39 are the same or modified. For 
both Mokil and Pingelap, linguistic relation- 
ships for the remaining islands are in the fol- 
lowing order: Ponape (24 of 46 and 26 of 48), 
Kusaie (12 of 40 and 10 of 44), and Truk 
(14 of 50 and 13 of 53). 
