Rose Atoll

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left: ISS023-E-66000 Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov Rose Atoll The Rose atoll covers an total area of about 6 km², it contains only two islands, Rose Island (in the photo right) and Sand Island (in the photo above). These two islets together build an land area of only 214 km².

above: Rose Atoll Originally only Rose Island was covered with vegetation, Sand Island was without vegetation, but is now overgrown with introduced plants. Only three of the seven local plant species grow here naturally, all others were imported more or less purposefully. On Rose Island are very densly monotonous stands of Pukavai (Pisonia grandis) in all stages of age, the ground cover is made by young plants of the same species only resp. is lacking at all. Only at open places near the beach grow two other species of plant, Nuna (Boerhavia tetrandra) and Tamole (Portulaca lutea). Today there are also several coconut palms (Cocos nucifera), beach heliotropes (Heliotropium foertherianum) and some very insistent grasses. A special feature of Rose Island is the humus-rich soil, relatively deep for such a small atoll islet, build by dropped Pisonia leafes and the allways abundant excrements of seabirds. Photo: Angela K. Keppler http://www.pbif.org

Flora of Rose (almost complete) (green = pictures) Boerhavia tetrandra, Pisonia grandis, Portulaca lutea

References: - A. Binion Amerson Jr.; W. Arthur Whistler; Terry D. Schwander: Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat of American Samoa. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior. 1982 - W. Arthur Whistler: A Study of the rare plants of American Samoa. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Honolulu. 1998