Flora of Romonum Island — Stone 
109 
Fig. 3. View of the south coast of Romonum looking slightly eastward. (The pier of basalt rocks is that 
shown on the map just short of the western tip of the island.) The appearance is very characteristic, with 
the numerous coconut palms. The tree at the left is a Hernandia. 
Rhizophora, Bruguiera, Lumnitzera, Sonneratia, 
Excoecaria — and the littoral Heritiera are sel- 
dom found very near houses. To summarize, 
then, the major visual aspect of the forested 
portions of the island is the predominance of 
Cocos , Artocarpus, and scattered individuals of 
Man gif era, Ficus, and occasional other trees. 
Other than this fairly homogeneous and 
largely man-made "forest” type, several other 
major features are evident. These are the man- 
grove forest; the freshwater swamps; the sandy 
beach; and the basalt-boulder coast. 
Mangrove Formation 
Tree species: Rhizophora mucronata, R. apic- 
ulata, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Sonneratia case- 
olaris, Excoecaria agallocha, Nypa fruticans, 
Lumnitzera littorea. 
Other characteristic species: Acrostichum 
aureum. 
Marginal species: Hibiscus t iliac e us ; species 
of the freshwater swamps, which to some extent 
interpenetrate the mangrove area. 
In general, the Micronesian mangrove for- 
mations are not as rich in species, or so produc- 
tive in individuals, or so notable for large trees, 
as are the formations in the Malaysian or Carib- 
bean areas. In turn, the mangrove areas in Truk 
are rather less rich in species than those of Palau, 
farther west and consequently nearer the vast 
Philippine mangrove regions. Such species as 
Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea (Rubiaceae), Doli- 
chandrone spathacea (Bignoniaceae; occasional 
at margins of mangrove areas), and Ceriops 
candolleana (Rhizophoraceae), although found 
in Palau (and Yap) do not occur in Truk, 
