Pwunso botanic garden visit

Pwunso prep this term began in A204 with a run through of a history of the Pohnpei agriculture station followed by brief coverage of how nutmeg and the lure of spices brought westerners into these waters.  I also provided a handout on some of the plants we might see on our visit to the garden:

The walk started at the millenium tree behind the public library.
Angiosperm: Ficus prolixa. Banyan, aiau, auu, aw, kohnyah, leaves as hair conditioner

The walk then crossed the driveway to have a look at the remaining clove spice trees.
Angiosperm: Syzygium aromaticum. Clove tree.

Christian considers the Araucaria pine

Then the class looked at the Araucaria pine trees.
Gymnosperm: Araucaria columnaris. Cook Island Pine. Family: Araucariaceae

James looks up as I explain that the round female cones remain near the top of the tree

Male cones of the Araucaria columnaris tree

The trunk of Araucaria is distinctly pine-like. Gymnosperms produce pollen and seeds but no flowers nor fruit

Walking over to the cinnamon trees

The cinnamon forms as an inner layer of the bark

Angiosperm: Cinnamomum verum. Cinnamon tree.

Visited but not photographed this term:
Gymnosperm: Cycas spp. (male). Cycad with cone. Maybe C. circinalis or C. rumphii.

Zai-Anna, Blossom, Danielle, and Joaquin by a coffee tree

Angiosperm: Coffea robusta. Coffee.

Elena tastes the coffee cherry inside of which are two coffee beans. The beans must be roasted before being ground into coffee.

Coffee tree leaves have a rather distinctive look to them

Also seen but not photographed: Angiosperm: Piper nigrum. Black pepper. Family: Piperaceae.

Nazalyna photographs mace and nutmeg


Angiosperm: Myristica fragrans. Nutmeg and the spice mace.

We then walked to the back garden briefly viewing but not photographing:
Angiosperm: Eucalyptus deglupta, Painted eucalyptus.
Angiosperm: Garcinia xanthochymus, yellow mangosteen. Also in this area: Averrhoa bilimbi
Angiosperm: Swietenia mahagoni, Mahogany.

I broke off hardened kauri pine sap and had the students smell the hardened sap. The sap has a pine scent not unlike Pine Sol. 

Gymnosperm: Agathis lanceolata. Family: Araucariaceae. Kauri pine.

Jordan examines the hardened sap, Kimmy and Jain in the background.

Paul and Joaquin by the kauri pines

Angiosperm: Pimenta dioica, Allspice.

The last trees viewed were:
Angiosperm: Calophyllum inophyllum. Kosraen: ituc, Kapinga: setau, Mwoakillese: ijaou, Pingalapese: sepang, Pohnpeian: isou, Southern Noumeneas: Rekich, Mortlockese: Rakish, Ulithian: sefang [tentative].
Angiosperm: Tectona grandis. Teak.

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