Karoraina

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left: ISS014-E-5381 Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov Karoraina The Karoraina Atoll was called Caroline Island until a short while ago. The atoll contains of thirty-nine motus, I will only mention the three largest of them, Nake Island in the north, Long Island in the northeast and South Island in the south. Together all motus form an area of ca. 3,9 km². Today no-one lives on this atoll, but once it was inhabited. In the year 1606 it was discovered by de Quiros, he reported of a canoe, that he saw on a beach and of Coconut palm-plantings on South Island. About the year 1870 the mining of guano begun, and during that period at least fifty archaeological sites were found.

left: Motu Mannikiba, in the west of the atoll Photo: Angela K. Keppler; by courtesy of Angela K. Keppler http://www.pbif.org

left: Ilima (Cordia subcordata), with an undergrowth of Te Keang (Microsorum grossum). Photo: Angela K. Keppler; by courtesy of Angela K. Keppler http://www.pbif.org

Flora of Karoraina (almost complete) (green = pictures) Achyranthes velutina, Boerhavia repens, Cordia subcordata, Digitaria pacifica, Heliotropium anomalum var. mediale, Heliotropium foertherianum, Hibiscus tiliaceus (?), Ipomoea macrantha, Ipomoea pes-caprae ssp. barsiliensis, Laportea ruderalis, Lepidium bidentatum, Lepturus repens, Microsorum grossum, Pandanus tectorius, Pisonia grandis, Portulaca lutea, Psilotum nudum, Scaevola taccada, Sida fallax, Suriana maritima, Thespesia populnea (?), Tribulus cistoides, Ximenia americana

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