from the specimens from the drier islands. Ipomoea tuba was collected m 
1934 from Vai Tepu on the lagoon side of the northeast island "climbing 
high over trees". A second collection was made on the northwest island 
in 1965 near the roadside. In this case the vine was also climbing over 
Tournefortia trees. This vine is not common and has always appeared 
sparsely distributed on any given island. A specimen of Cordia subcordata 
was collected in 1922 presumably from the area of the Cable Station. It 
is doubtful if this species is native to the island since the only trees 
found are near a disturbed site where much planting has been carried out. 
No evidence of this tree was seen in natural areas in 1965. Several trees 
are found on Washington Island but these are known to have been planted 
at the settlement. Native stands of Cordia have been found on Howland and 
Sydney Islands in the Phoenix Group. One of the commonest herbs on Fanning 
Island is Heliotropium anomalum var. mediale which is found on open sandy . 
areas and dry mounds of silted mud flats. 
Tournefortia argentea open scrub forests remain on the north portion 
of the northwest island and in small stands along the lagoon on the south 
island. This species tends to reach tree size - up to about 6.2 m. high. 
It is probable that much of the original land area not covered by Cocos and 
Pisonia was occupied by this open scrub forest. A similar area is found 
on the east end of Paljnyra Atoll. This forest type may be transitional 
to a Pisonia "climax" type of vegetation. It seems probable that Pisonia 
is a climax forest on the wet central Pacific atolls and that the extensive 
stands of other forest and scrub associations is due to either aridity or 
storm damage. Once a Pisonia forest is established the tendency is for a 
solid stand to cover an islet from beach to lagoon. Scaevola taccada is 
found along the beach over coral rubble and along the lagoon shore. It 
forms extensive thickets along the wide wave built coral terraces along 
the southeast side of the south island. It is usually more common on the 
seaward side of the islets. In some windy areas the Scaevola is sheared 
on such devasted areas. Such an effect can be very important when con¬ 
sidering the small areas of atoll islets and the importance of anchoring 
substrates during storm action if the land area is to be retained. This 
can be very important in the case of Cocos plantations which are extremely 
vulnerable to storm damage. 
A number of species have been introduced to Fanning Island as orna¬ 
mentals or food plants: Nothopanax guilfoylel , Gomphrena globosa, Passiflc 
foetida, Gloriosa rothchildl an a, Spathodea campanulata, Antigonon leptopus . 
Ficus carica, Bauhinia monandra, Crotolaria ^ retusa, Cyrtosperma chamlssonls 
Rhoeo discolor, Tacca leo ntopetaloides, Casuarlna equisetlfolia, Artocarpus 
altills, Kalanchoe pinnata, Acalypha wllkesiana, Codiaeum variegatum, 
Euphorbia cyathophora. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Calophyllum inophyllum. Card 
hi: 
h v. 
