Clidemia hirta

SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany took on the "dark curse" - riahpen roht. Every time I take the class into the forest to pull Clidemia hirta, the skies go dark and rain sheets down from the sky. This year was no exception with Tropical Storm 26W Bopha expanding to the south of Pohnpei. Right on schedule the sky darkened in the forest, and then skies opened up. Last week I told the class that this would happen today. When one asked me, "How...?" I simply answered, "Magic." What else would you expect from a plant called "the dark curse"?
 Rose Ann dressed for success - in the swamp mud, humid heat, and rain This was a new find on the knoll off to the left en route to the main Clidemia hirta patches. 

JB Palik pulls Clidemia hirta


Wading into a thicket of Clidemia hirta. This was also a new area, to the south of the oahs.

Arnald at work

Ezerin pulls and inspects the Clidemia hirta. He knows plants and knows them well. He noted that he is confident that he has seen Clidemia hirta on Yap and that it is not Melastoma malabathricum, the pisetikimei. 

Delphina and Berry just before the heaviest rains fell.

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