326 VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 



some forms perfectly glabrous. The ultimate branches of the 

 panicles are 3 to 8 inches long, stout and spreading. Upon 

 these are set the flowers, which are sessile, single, and spirally 

 arranged; there are about 30 flowers to each branch. The 

 flowers are scattered along nearly the whole length of the tortuous, 

 more or less tomentose or woolly branches of the panicle. The 

 bractlets are short and filiform. 



The perianth is greenish-yellow; ovary green. The flower is 

 0.5 inches high and 0.25 inches in diameter; hermaphrodite; 

 coriaceous. The outer perianth is tubular-campanulate, 3- 

 toothed; the inner is 3-parted and with a very short tube which 

 is connate with the staminal cup. The segments are ovate- 

 lanceolate, valvate, and deciduous from the tube. The stamens 

 are 6, spreading, yellow, equal, connate below in a tube or cup, 

 the anthers hnear oblong; the free portions at length reflexed. 

 At the base of the perianth, surrounding the style, is an annular 

 nectary. Insects are attracted in considerable numbers by the 

 pollen and nectar, both of which are abundant. The style is 

 0,25 inches high, single, trisulcate, and attenuate with 3 minute 

 blunt stigmas; deciduous. The ovary is trigonous or 3-lobed, 

 3-loculed, with 1 erect ovule in each locule. 



The young fruit is bright green, glossy, and conspicuously 

 marked with very numerous close-set lenticels. These are light 

 colored and not protuberant. The fruit is somewhat slightly 

 ridged or angled. It bears at its apex the dried remnants of the 

 style and adjacent tissues. The mature fruit is oval, sub- 

 globose, or globular, 1| to 2 inches in diameter, 2 to 3 inches 

 long, and resembling in shape and color a large dark purple 

 plum. The drupe is dryish, with a single central seed or nut. 

 The epicarp is dark purple or black, thin, fibrous, fragile upon 

 maturity and breaking so as to expose the mesocarp. The 

 mesocarp is thick, fibrous, and astringent. The albumen is 

 unifonn, horny, snowy-white, smooth, sweetish-fragrant, and 

 slightly impressed on the ventral side by the raphe and chalaza. 

 The embryo is located at the back of the albumen above the 

 base. The albumen is edible, and is considered a great deUcacy 

 by the Hawaiians and others who know of its pleasant taste. 



