698 Forestry Quarterly 



has been divided into a number of sections, or sub-divisions, 

 which are as intricate and baffling as those of Craetagus or Quercus. 

 This species is evidently in a condition of organic inequilibrium 

 and incipient evolution. Many of the New Zealand forms are 

 climbing or decumbent lianas. 



In the Hawaiian summit bogs the ohia is a stunted creeper, 

 scarcely rising above the mosses and sedges of the swamp. In the 

 great jungle-forests of puna and Olaa, Hawaii, it is a stately tree, 

 rising to over a hundred feet in height. In the latter regions it is 

 straight-trunked and high-crowned, an excellent form for lumber- 

 ing. In recent years several local companies have undertaken the 

 commercial exploitation of these great ohia forests, and large quan- 

 tities of the lumber have been exported, as well as utilized locally. 

 The wood is strong, tough, fine grained, dark red, and very 

 durable. Its one defect is that it requires very careful drying in 

 order to prevent warping and checking, to which it is very sus- 

 ceptible. In laying ohia flooring great care must be exercised in 

 fastening the boards properly in place, otherwise they twist and 

 check. 



The ohia wood has come into prominence for flooring, paving 

 blocks, railroad ties, bridge timbers, and other uses in which dura- 

 bility is of especial importance. In its mechanical and structural 

 properties ohia rivals the best oak, although it cannot be obtained 

 in as large sizes, as its trunk is relatively slender. Occasionally 

 boles of three to four feet in diameter are obtained, but these are 

 uncommon, and the average diameter of the trunk is about two 

 feet. The engineering testing laboratories of the College of Hawaii 

 were used, a few years ago, for a thorough examination of the ohia, 

 and the results of an extensive series of tests were very satisfac- 

 tory. It is to be noted that the ohia lehua is a slow-growing 

 tree, and upon the consummation of the present epoch of exploita- 

 tion, unless conservative principles of forestry soon be rigorously 

 applied, the supply will be practically exhausted for a considerable 

 period. 



Second only to the lehua in abundance and importance is the 

 koa {Acacia koa Gray). It is the finest tree in the Hawaiian 

 forests, and is endemic.^ In the lower forest the koa usually grows 

 as a large spreading tree, with a thick, stocky trunk, sometimes 



» MacCaughey, V. The Woods of Hawaii. Scientific American Supple- 

 ment, vol. 81, 1916, No. 2098, pp. 184-85, 5 figs. 



