Flora of Namonuito — STONE 
89 
quently found are Calophyllum Inophyllum, 
Ficus tinctofia, Barringtonia asiatka^ and Ochro- 
sia oppositi folia, which are noticeable along the 
beaches behind the front ranks of Scaevola and 
Messerschmidia, Ochrosia tends to form pure 
stands here and there, and in such places its 
seedlings are very numerous. Besides these 
tree species, and a few others, most of the 
vegetation is of shrubs, rising to 15 or 25 feet 
on occasion, and of vines, herbs, and crop 
plants. Needless to say, the flora is not a rich 
one. There are 94 species recorded here, of 
which about 52 can be reasonably construed 
as indigenous; of the remaining 42 species, 
22 are clearly introduced food or ornamental 
plants; the remaining 20 species are presum- 
ably accidental introductions and weeds. 
Nevertheless there is some diversity in the 
vegetation; islets differ from one another, and 
each islet consists of two or more zones. The 
indigenous ecological zones probably con- 
sisted of the following: 
(1) The strand forest, the outermost line of 
vegetation on the beaches, consisting of 
Scaevola, Messerschmidia, Morinda, and Guet- 
tarda as the usual dominants, with Ochrosia, 
Terminalia, Pandanus, Cordia, Allophylus, and 
Hernandia occurring locally as individuals or 
sometimes in small stands. Less frequent 
members of the strand association are Suriana 
and Sophora. Several creeping or scandent 
vines are present, chiefly Ipomoea pes-caprae, L 
gracilis, Vigna, Canavalia, Triumfetta, and the 
parasitic Cassytha. Wedelia is a scandent or 
rarely erect shrub of both exposed and shady 
areas. The grass Lepturus and the sedge Fim- 
hristylis are both very common, but tend to 
occur most abundantly in a savannahdike 
subassociation of windswept narrow extremi- 
ties, often in company with stunted, scattered 
shrubs, especially Pandanus. 
(2) Pisonia forest. Before the coming of the 
Micronesian inhabitants, it seems possible 
that many, if not all, of the islets may have 
had dense pure stands of Pisonia grandis, the 
viscid fruits of which are spread by birds. 
Some remnants of these stands remain on 
Megererik, Magur, and according to another 
observer, on Fayu. As noted by the author, the 
Pisonia forest on Magur was not a pure stand, 
but contained many large trees of Eugenia 
javanica. This is perhaps the result of delib- 
erate cultivation or at any rate a long-term 
result of such cultivation. Eugenia is not 
known from the Marshall Islands and seems 
not to be present on any of the Caroline 
Islands atolls in the vicinity of Ponape (such as 
Mokiei, Pingelap, Ngatik, Nukuoro, and 
Kapingamarangi) . 
(3) Intermediate forest. This comprises an 
area variable in extent, sometimes lacking, 
sometimes replacing the Pisonia forest. It is 
actually not a homogeneous association but 
consists of varying proportions of the smaller 
trees, either in stands or mixed, including 
Ochrosia (usually in pure stands), Pipturus, 
Allophylus, Pandanus, Barringtonia (which may 
also be in the open strand), Calophyllum (more 
usually along the strand), and occasionally 
Hibiscus tiliaceus. 
(4) Coconut and breadfruit forests. These 
dominate most of the central areas of the 
islets and are the result (at least originally) of 
deliberate planting. The seeded breadfruit va- 
rieties replenish the forest quickly and nat- 
urally, and there are on some islets almost 
pure stands of breadfruit trees. Often they 
will be accompanied by Ficus, Eugenia, and 
Crataeva. The coconut groves may be open, 
with a sparse ground cover, or choked with 
shrubs. On Pisarach many coconuts grow in 
a sub-swampy area. 
(5) Swamps, both artificial and natural, 
occur in several islets. The artificial swamps 
are pits planted with Cyrtosperma or Colocasia. 
On Pisarach Islet the naturally swampy south- 
ern end is partially utilized for taro cultivation, 
A few trees of Bruguiera conjugata occur here, 
characterized by white calyces rather than the 
usual glossy red calyces, and herein described 
as forma alba. Other swamp species include 
the ferns Acrostichum aureum and Cyclosorus 
goggilodus, and the small sedge Eleocharis 
geniculata. 
