MORINDA IN THE HAWAIIAN FLORA 213 



above an elevation of 1000 feet. It was undoubtedly much more 

 abundant in early times, under the semi-cultivation of the primi- 

 tive Hawaiians, than it is at present. 



The only other species of Morinda that occurs in the Hawai- 

 ian flora is trimera Hillebd., known to the natives as "Noni 

 kuahiwi." This is an excessively rare tree, 20 to 30 feet high, and 

 attaining a trunk diameter of about 1 foot. The wood is yellow. 

 The branches are pale, terete, and covered with numerous lenti- 

 cels. The leaves are opposite, elliptico- or obovate-oblong, 4 to 

 6 by 1| to 2j inches, on petioles of 1 to 1^ inches. The blade is 

 equally acuminate at both ends; chartaceous to membranous; 

 pubescent underneath, particularly along the veins and in their 

 axils; almost black when dry. The stipules are I inch long, 

 acuminate, and connate into a deep sheath. 



The peduncles are in the axils of old leaves, and cauline, 1|^ to 2 

 inches long. They are pluribracteate at the base — the bracts are 

 connate, appiculate, or subulate — and often with a pair of leaflets 

 at the middle. The flowers are 8 to 10 in a glomerule, connate at 

 their bases. The calyx is 1 to 1^ lines long, free from the ovary, 

 urceolate or cupulate, truncate, and with 3 toothlets, The corolla 

 is ^ inch long, coriaceous puberulous, tubular-ventricose, shortly 

 3-toothed, with the teeth or lobules in duplicate- valvate or cucul- 

 late. There are 3 anthers, subsessile on the lower third of the 

 corolla, oblong and included. 



The ovary is small, globose-depressed, and sunken into an 

 annular disk at the bottom of the calyx. The style is about the 

 length of the calyx, bifid, and with one branch shorter than the 

 other. The drupe or berry consists of 4 distinct woody pyrenae; 

 it is fleshy and adherent with and enclosed within the globose 

 calyx. Each pyrena has one erect seed. The calices are connate 

 in a syncarpium, which measures about 1 inch in diameter. 



This remarkable species has been found only in the forests of 

 Hamakua, Wai-kapu, and Maka-wao, on the island of Maui. 

 A variety beta is characterized by leaves thicker than those of the 

 species, shining, ovate-oblong, obtuse. The calyx is truncate, 

 with 5 to 6 toothlets. The corolla is occasionally 4-toothed, with 

 4 anthers. There are 10 to 15 flowers in a glomerule. This 



