71 



exists at the mouth of Halawa valley, Molokai, and the tree is 

 still abundant along the Puna coast of Hawaii. It is plentiful in 

 the Honolulu region, and occurs scatteringly along other coasts. 



The tree is generally low and broad, with a short, thick, stocky 

 trunk and a globular of flattened crown. The usual height of 

 the kamani is 25-35 feet; occasionally trees rise to 40-60 feet. 

 The spread of the crown is usually greater than its height, ap- 

 proximating 30-40 feet ; very old trees may have a spread con- 

 siderably wider than this. The trunk is 18-36 inches in diam- 

 eter, and usually only 4-8 feet clear to the first branches. The 

 kamani naturally branches close to the ground. Old trees, if 

 unpruned, have large horizontal branches, 18 inches in diameter 

 and 15-20 feet long, sweeping close to the ground. The trunk 

 of very old trees may be 4 feet or more in diameter. Not in- 

 frequently there are two or three trunks arising from a common 

 base. 



The trunk of old trees is often spreading or buttressed at the 

 base, with numerous large radiating, thick-barked roots, 18 inches 

 or more in diameter. These roots coalesce about the base of the 

 trunk, forming a woody network or platform, 10 feet or more 

 in diameter. In the sandy coastal soil the roots spread hori- 

 zontally near the surface for distances of 30 feet or more from 

 the trunk. Like many other littoral trees, the kamani is usually 

 wind-shaped. The crown is often conspicuously assymmetrical, 

 with most of its growth to the leeward side of the trunk. The 

 kamani is not self-pruning, and in old trees there is often a con- 

 siderable accumulation of dead branches and twigs. 



The old bark is rough, scaly, and deeply fissured; its thickness 

 is 1-1.5 inches. The fissures are broad and coalescing, and break 

 the bark into coarse, woody, flaky scales, 3-4 inches wide and 

 8-18 inches long. The scales are ^ray or dark chocolate brown, 

 and on the windward side of the trunk are usually well covered 

 with lichens and epiphytic algae. Seemann states that in Fiji 

 the trunk is usually thickly covered with orchids and ferns. The 

 bark of the fissures is light ashy-brown. The ground around the 

 base of an old tree is generally littered with a considerable ac- 

 cumulation of bark scales. The bark of the young twigs is ashy 

 or blackish-brown. 



The wood is of medium hardness, closely but coarse-grained, 

 and of a reddish-brown color.^ The pigmentation is often more 

 or less irregularly and broadly banded, and gives to the timber 

 a handsome wavy pattern. The sap wood is much lighter in color 

 than the heartwood. Kamani w^ood is very strong and durable. 

 Its mechanical characters are as follows : 



Specific gravity = .579-. 647. 



Weight per cubic foot = 63-85 lbs. 



4 See MacCaug'hev, Vaughan: Economic Woods of Hawaii, Forestry 

 Quarterly, 14:696-716, Dec, 1916. 



Forests of Hawaiian Islands, Plant World, 20:162-66, 



June, 1916. 



