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Description: The genus Freycinetia was named in honor of the French Navigator Admiral Louis de Freycinet (1779-1842), an explorer who lead a voyage of discovery for the French Government around the world. On board this expedition was Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré (1789-1854), the botanist for this exploratory mission. Gaudichaud-Beaupré was the first to collect and describe the genus Freycinetia, which he named after Admiral Freycinet. Freycinetia ponapensis is a member of this genus which in turn belongs to the family Pandanaceae. Species in this monocot family are typically woody climbing vines known as lianas that can also form a thick cover when they spread out over open ground. Freycinetia species are also dioecious, which means that the male flowers, including the pollen-bearing anthers (male sex organs), and the female flowers, including the pistils (female sex organs), are located on separate plants. F. ponapensis is a coarse woody, climbing liana with widely branching stems that are about 2-3 cm (~1 in) wide. The stems produce long, tough rootlets that become attached to shrubs and trees and thus allow F. ponapensis lianas to grow up into the forest canopy. The lanceolate-shaped leaves are sheathed at the base, and are long, linear or elongated and have a pointed tip. The base and apex of leaf margins are serrated with spine-like (toothed) structures. The fruits are integrated into a syncarp (compound fruit) with individual carpels developing into fleshy berry-like structures united in spiraling rows; and collectively, numerous small seeds are thus produced in the compound structure. The column-shaped, compound fruits develop at the terminal ends of branches. Balick and Cox (1996) and others have pointed out that pollination of the flowers of F. ponapensis like its close relative Freycinetia reineckei (apparently native to the high Micronesian islands of Palau, the Marianas and in Chuuk lagoon (see below under Frecinetia reineckei), relies on “flying foxes” which are actually bats in the genus Pteropus. These bats are attracted to the large, fleshy bracts of the Freycinetia flowers (also see Cox 1982, 1990); bracts are leaf-like structures that are often brightly colored in plant species lacking true petals and are sometimes mistaken for floral petals.
Distribution: Freycinetia ponapensis is a common, woody vine or liana endemic to the volcanic high islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae in the eastern Carolines of Micronesia. F. ponapensis grows up around several types of trees in the rain forests of both these islands, both in cultivated areas and native forest areas (see below under Pohnpei and Kosrae for more description of the habitat preferences of F. ponapensis).
Uses by Island or Island Group: Freycinetia ponapensis has traditional cultural uses in the high volcanic islands of the eastern Caroline archipelago.
Uses in Pohnpei: According to Raynor and Fownes (1993:47), Freycinetia ponapensis is a relatively common, native “vine” in the Pohnpeian rain forests where it is known locally as “rahra”and has several cultural uses. Glassman (1952) referred the use of an infusion of the leaves of F. ponapensis as a contraceptive on Pohnpei Island. More recently, Balick and his colleagues (2009:290-291F. ponapensis is known locally as Mwatal, Metel, Rara or Rahra on Pohnpei; they also provided the following information about the magical and medicinal use of this liana on Pohnpei:
“To use as a charm to find out who stole one’s sakau plant (Piper methysticum), the shoot of young leaves [of F. ponapensis] is pounded and placed where the sakau plant was stolen. This will spiritually make that person sick, and that person will come and ask for forgiveness…. To use as a charm to find a person who steals from you, eight young leaves are cut into pieces, pounded, placed in the location where the property was stolen; then the thief’s hand will become swollen and he or she will come back and apologize…. To stimulate a child’s appetite to help him or her grow up fast…. To make wini en sarwel for helping to diagnose a baby’s illness (used for babies who have been sick for a long time and are losing energy, which has a gradual onset and is sometimes referred to as shock when the child loses its soul due to a loud noise when the child is sleeping; the baby cannot blink, its color is similar to that of a child who is very cold, its temperature is increased, and diarrhea occurs, sometimes with blood in it) … [and F. ponapensis is used to] … treat weakness and body aches….”
Uses in Kosrae: Hosokawa (1954:356-7) listed Freycinetia ponapensis as one of several species of lianas in the Kosrae rain forests that are dominated by Campnosperma brevipetiola or Horsefieldia nunu trees: “Freycinetia ponapensis Martelli, a root-climber, grows predominantly attaching its stems along trunks of big trees, with several other “subordinate” liana species such as Derris elliptica Benth., Piper ponapense C. DC. and Flagellaria indica L., among which “most of the individuals of those species usually climb up to the canopy.” Maxwell (1982:115), who also refered to the relative dominance of the Freycinatia among the liana plants on Kosrae up to about 480 m in elevation on slopes of this high island. Interestingly, Mweng orahk, a Kosraean name reportedly used in reference to Freycinetia ponapensis on Kosrae (see Merlin et al. 1996, and Lee 1974:92), can be translated in to English as a crawling or crepping Pandanus (Mweng) plant; indeed, F. ponapensis is a climbing, woody vine or liana in the same family as Pandanus, the genus of prop-rooted trees, in the Pandanaceae family.