Spontoon Island Plants

Delacourt's travel sketchbook 2 (Laurie Gerholz)

Elaine's Sketchbook page: Red Antherium, Lime branch with fruit, fern pattern

"...where I stood the precipices were a mass of wild trees, bushes,
and creepers. From black to lightest green the colors ran,
from smokey crests and gloomy ravines to the stream
singing its way a hundred feet below the trail"
(White Shadows in the South Seas by Frederick O'Brien {with Rose Wilder Lane})

Engravings
A sampling of plants found in the Spontoon Archipelago.
The old engraving llustrations are from a 1913 dictionary,
and are copyright free and in public domain.
The original art & engravings are uncredited.
The Spontoon Althing would like to thank Louise Lounsbury and her estate
for the donation of the source material.

"Palm" Trees & Tree ferns
Many of these are harvested, either in the wild or on plantations.

Cocoa (coconut) palm -- the nuts are harvested "green" for their juice, or ripe for the white coconut nutmeat [used in cooking or processed into dried, shredded copra (exported for its oil)]. Can be 20 to 25 meters tall. Coconuts do not grow or thrive on the Spontoon Island Atoll for unknown reasons. Coconuts do grow on other islands in the Spontoon Archipelago.
* Coconut plantation reference photos (separate webpage; some images copyrighted) *
Date palm -- Grown on plantations for the fruit, which can be dried and shipped.
Palm tree -- Like many other palm trees, the leaves are used to make mats and roof thatch, and the trunk is used for construction wood. The sap can be harvested for palm toddy (palm wine).
Palmetto tree -- Introduced species from the Carribean area.
Sago palm -- from the East Indies: the stems can be processed into a powdery starch.
Fan palm -- same as talipot. Leaves are used for crafts, construction, & can be used like paper.
Talipot -- same as fan palm. Native of Ceylon & environs.
Wax palm -- Brazilian native, harvested & processed for wax on young leaves.
Tree fern -- Tropical fern with trunk up to 8 meters tall. Many varieties, wild & garden.

Agricultural & Plantation Trees

Banana plant -- Bananas grow in large bunches. Harvested for food, with some export.
Plantain plant -- Fruit is similar to a banana. Usually cooked. [Plantain chips (fries) taste good].
Tamarind tree -- Fruit tree & shade tree. Fruit flavor for juices.
Pawpaw tree -- Tropical variety: Papaya fruit & stem juice used as meat tenderizer.
Mango tree -- Many varieties with some fruit tastier than others. Green fruit pickled for market.
Breadfruit tree (harvested fruit shown) -- Fruit baked. Cloth from bark. Timber for construction.

Other Agricultural Crops
[Besides the usual garden vegetables, here are some regional crop illustrations.]

Taro (showing top & greens) -- Root (shown in illo below) is starchy and made into poi.

harvested yams and taro (David Ackerman)

Taro greens and root -- (from Crown Copyright image)
Swamp Taro -- cultivation on the Fiji Islands -- can be grown in natual swamp or irrigated area -- there are also 'dry' cultivated taro plants (from Crown Copyright image)
Sweet Potato -- flowering vine & tuber -- (from Crown Copyright image)
Pineapple plant -- gardens and plantations. Marketed fresh, or locally canned.
Hemp plant -- garden & plantation grown. Stems processed to fiber for ropes & paper. Tops used for pharmacology & flavorings (See Nootnops Blue)
Bamboo -- plantation & wild, used mostly for crafts & building construction. Invasive as a weed.
Gourds -- garden grown, for crafts and storage.
Fungi -- (Hey, it was a cute picture!) Wild and cave-grown for food, marketplace & canning.
Sugar cane (view of top) -- Plantation grown. Processed for molasses & sugar. Raw for snacks.

"Tongo-tongo" - medicinal plant - by Jerry Collins

* The "Tongo-Tongo" Bush - by Jerry Collins *

Other Common vegetation

Banyan tree -- runners come down from limbs and root into the ground, eventually producing a sprawling shade tree with multiple trunks.
Mangrove bush -- Found along seashore & salt-marsh, spreads and forms Mangrove Swamps, anchoring sand and extending land. Fruit is edible.
Ferns -- Many tropical varities, wild & garden.

Some images from the "Pacific Islands Geographical Handbooks" (Royal Navy):
(British Crown copyright affirmed -- reprinted with permission -- credits located here)

Other vegetation reference pictures (some copyright protected)
at the Pacific island scenery reference webpage.