~12-
plants at Belle Island was rapid.
In April 1954 some of the
Scaevola and Messerschmidia “trees" were up to five feet
height, with a spread of ten feet,
fruits.
Plants of the
in
and bore many flowers and
other species
also were
well
es-
tablished.
A photograph of Belle Island taken eight days following
the Nectar detonation
(Fig. 4b)
age sustained by the plants.
brown and desolate.
shows the extent of the dam-
From the air the island looked
On closer inspection it was found
that
most of the plants had been scorched by the heat wave and
many of them had been blown over or broken by the shock blast.
Two of the previously tagged plants
(Cocos and Portulaca) had
disappeared or had been dislodged from their original positions;
other plants of these species were staked and labelled for study.
On the tall shrubs,
Guettarda,
such as
Scaevola,
Messerschmidia and
the leaves were usually gone or scorched,
and the
scorched branches and a few persistent leaves were all that remained of the plants.
plants,
(No.
Flowers and fruits were found on
some
especially in the prostrate plants such as Portulaca
1211), which was located behind a large fallen coconut
trunk.
Close-ups of examples of damaged plants eight days
post Nectar are shown in the foreground of Figures 4b
and Sa.