Flint

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left: ISS014-E-5382 Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov Flint This now uninhabited island, a raised atoll, has a land area of only about 3 km². On its highest point the island emerges about 8 m of the sea. In the islands interior are several small brackish ponds, whose water level and salinity changes depending on the rainfalls. But these pools are not of natural origin, they are a result of the guano mining, which took place also on this tiny island.

left: One of the smaller ponds in the island's centre, which were left by the guano mining. Photo: Angela K. Keppler; by courtesy of Angela K. Keppler http://www.pbif.org

Flora of Flint (incomplete) (green = pictures) Boerhavia tetrandra, Calophyllum inophyllum (?), Cordia subcordata, Guettarda speciosa, Heliotropium foertherianum, Ipomoea macrantha, Lepturus repens, Pandanus tectorius, Pisonia grandis, Scaevola taccada, Thespesia populnea (?)

References: - Angela K. Kepler; Cameron B. Kepler: The natural history of the Caroline Atoll, Southern Line Islands; History, Physiography, Botany, and Isle Descriptions. Atoll Res. Bull. 397: 1-225. 1994 - Dieter Mueller-Dombois; Francis Raymond Fosberg: Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands. Springer, 1997