Micronesian Names by Islands or Island Groups:  Dauerleng (Pohnpei) 

Description: Amyema artensis is a small, non‑woody, plant that grows on other plants and is therefore known as an epiphyte (or air plant). A. artensis can grow to heights of 3-4 m (9-12 ft), but often is much smaller. It produces leaves that are opposite, glabrous, and thick; and its scentless flowers are borne in bunches, laterally along the stem. The flowers are bisexual, actinomorphic, 3 cm (~1 in) across, with their reddish corolla that are orange near the tips of its 5 petals.

Distribution: Amyema is a genus of semi-parasitic shrubs (“mistletoes”) which are found naturally in Malesia and Australia. More specifically A. artensis is distributed from New Guinea to several tropical Pacific Islands groups in the southwest Pacific, including the Solomons, Louisiades, New Caledonia and adjoining islands, as well as in Vanuatu, Samoa and at least one high volcanic island in the Carolines of Micronesia. In New Guinea, A. artensis has been recorded from primary and secondary rain forests, where it is parasitic on various host species of plants. Its distribution in Micronesia is apparently restricted to Pohnpei Island in the eastern Carolines where this species is indigenous, i.e., a species that is native to this island but not unique (endemic) to it.

Uses on Pohnpei: Amyema artensis is known as Dauerleng on Pohnpei (e.g., see see Balick et al. 2009:421). The red fruit of A. artensis are reportedly used in traditional Pohnpeian medicine (www.comfsm.fm/~dleeling/flora.html); from another source, the Pohnpeian Book of Luelan (see Bernart 1977:21, i.e., chapter 11, number 20), “Tauralan” is referred to as the Pohnpeian name for “Amyema artensis,” and it is listed as a “Medicine.”