108 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XXI, January 1967 ! 
ONAGRACEAE 
Ludwigia octovalvis (Jacq.) Raven, Kew Bull. 
15:476 (1962). (5304) 
Hitherto known as fussiaea suffruticosa L. 
ARALIACEAE 
Polyscias fruticosa (L.) Harms. 
Polyscias Scutellaria (Burm. f.) Fosb. 
Polyscias pinnata Forst. cultivar "tricochleata” 
UMBELLIFERAE 
Centella asiatica (L.) Urban 
CONVOLVULACEAE 
Ipomoea digitata L. (5367) 
Ipomoea indica (Burm. f.) Merrill 
The same as I. congesta R. Br. 
BORAGINACEAE 
Cordia subcordata Lam. (5312) 
VERBENACEAE 
Clerodendron inerme (L.) Gaertner 
Premma obtusifolia R. Br. (5307) 
Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L.) Vahl; "sakura” 
(5287) 
The vernacular name, obviously Japanese 
(sakura = cherry), indicates the relative recency 
of this plant’s introduction. Informants placed 
the first appearance of the species in the 1920’s. 
LABIATAE 
Ocimum sanctum L. ; "wariig” (5278) 
Cultivated as an herb used with fish. The 
herbage is very rank. 
ACANTHACEAE 
Blechum Ibrownei 
RUBIACEAE 
Guettarda speciosa L. 
Hedyotis bi flora (L.) Lam. (5367 -a) 
Morinda citri folia L. 
GOODENIACEAE 
Scaevola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb. 
Variously called S. frutescens or S. koenigii 
in older literature. Also known as S. sericea 
Vahl. 
COMPOSITAE 
Wedelia bifora (L.) DC. (5296) 
V ernonia cinerea (L.) Less. 
ECOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE 
VEGETATION OF ROMONUM 
Major Patterns of Vegetation 
Very little, if any, of the original vegetation 
is left intact. Instead the island presents a pic- 
ture of the long-existing interaction of man on 
the insular environment. Because of the small 
size and low elevation of the island, every 
square foot has probably had, from time to j 
time at least, the imprint of the human foot 
or the effects of the agricultural hand. In fact, 
throughout Truk, it is difficult to envision what 
the original lowland vegetation was like except 
in the areas which, because of their marginal 
nature — such as mangrove swamps, freshwater 
swamps, and sandy beach areas — have been 
considered useless or too difficult to change. Of 
course, in the more advanced areas (e.g., Moen) 
even these areas are now much altered through 
the use of modern techniques and machinery. 
On Romonum, however, we may look to these 
marginal areas for at least a partially persistent 
element of pre-human vegetation. 
Outside these marginal areas, Romonum con- 
sists largely of cultivated trees, usually rather 
well spaced, and consisting primarily of coconut 
palms and breadfruit trees. These two species 
are the only large trees in some localities, espe- 
cially in the immediate neighborhood of houses. 
On the hill in the eastern part, and toward the 
central part of the island, mango trees are also 
found in considerable numbers. Wherever "vil- 
lages” are located quite near the coast, there are 
small numbers — sometimes single individuals — 
of various arborescent species, especially Her- 
nandia sonora, Ficus virens, Metroxylon ami- 
carum, Calophyllum inophyllum, Hibiscus 
tiliaceus, or Thespesia populnea . Although 
there are exceptions, the mangrove trees — • 
