Fungi of the Marshall Islands, Central Pacific Ocean 
Donald P. Rogers 1 
INTRODUCTION 
During the late summer of 1946 a party 
from the Department of Botany of the Uni¬ 
versity of Hawaii visited a number of islands 
of the Marshall group with the purpose of 
collecting the species which occur there. The 
party consisted of Dr. Harold St. John, pro¬ 
fessor and chairman of the department, 
Mr. Richard S. Cowan, graduate assistant, 
and the writer. Transportation and living 
and working quarters were provided by the 
United States Navy; the journey from Hono¬ 
lulu to Kwajalein, and thence to the more 
northern islands, was made on a naval ves¬ 
sel, and to the islands south of Kwajalein 
by seaplane. 
Although only 10 of the 34 atolls and 
single islands making up the archipelago 
were visited, these lie in both the northern 
and southern parts of the group, and in both 
the Radak (eastern) and Ralik (western) 
chains of which it is composed; and earlier 
visits by Dr. St. John to other atolls indicate 
that the 10 visited show nearly all the diver¬ 
sity of climate, topography, and vegetation 
exhibited by the larger number. It is true 
that all the islands on which the party landed 
were inhabited, and it is possible that studies 
of some of the uninhabited islands would 
have given a somewhat different impression 
of the vegetation. This limitation, however, 
probably is of importance only for the col¬ 
lector of phanerogams; since stands of un¬ 
disturbed native vegetation occurred on the 
inhabited islands also, it is unlikely that the 
1 Department of Botany, University of Hawaii. 
Manuscript received December 2, 1946. 
others would have proved much more favor¬ 
able for mycological study. 
Fungi were collected on eight atolls and 
a single island (Mejit); the localities are 
here listed, in order from north to south, 
with the dates on which they were visited. 
Atoll 
(or single island) 
Utirik 
Mejit I. 
Ailuk 
Likiep 
Wotje 
Namu 
Ailinglapalap 
Jaluit 
Ebon 
Island 
Utirik 
Nankarai 
Marab 
Marme 
Ailuk 
Eniarmij 
Biebi 
Likiep 
Ormed 
Riri 
Namu 
Leuen 
Ailinglapalap 
Imrodj 
Ebon 
Date (1946) 
September 1-2 
September 3 
August 31 
August 31 
August 31 
August 30 
August 29 
August 29 
August 28 
September 4-5 
September 5 
August 16 
August 16 
August 20 
August 20 
September 9-12 
Most of these names are those given on U. S. 
Hydrographic Office charts 5413 and 5414. 
The other localities are shown, but not always 
named, on advance proofs of H. O. charts 
6007, 6018, 6020, and 6022. In Ailuk 
Atoll the ninth island north of Ailuk Island 
is called by the inhabitants of the atoll 
"Marab”; that name is used in this report, 
although the proofs of chart 6022 desig¬ 
nate it by the apparently nipponized name 
"Marappu.” The island immediately south 
of it (and eighth to the north of Ailuk), 
unnamed on the charts, is called "Marme” 
by the Marshallese. The thirteenth island of 
the series running north from Ailuk has the 
native name "Nankarai.” In Likiep Atoll, 
Biebi is shown on H. O. chart 6020. The 
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