FLORA OF THE GROUP. 203 



Milo occurs generally over the Pacific islands and was formerly much used 

 by the natives in various ways, but especially in making wooden dishes, cala- 

 bashes and other household utensils. In many parts of the Pacific the tree is 

 held in religious veneration, being planted in or about the native temples, but 

 this does not seem to have been the case in Hawaii. 



Two species of native cotton are found in this zone. The one with sulphur- 

 colored flowers is called mao -^ ; the one with brick-red flowers is the kokio -^ 

 of the natives. Both species, unfortunately, are rarely met with and the cultiva- 

 tion of either as a garden shrub would be most commendable. In this 

 same region and belonging to the same order ^s as the foregoing are found the 

 four or five species of ilima.-" They are all low shrubs two to six feet high, 

 with single yellow flowers. The flowers are much prized and have been used for 

 centuries by stringing them together one on top of another on fibers of olona, 

 to make garlands or leis. They are often called the national flower of Hawaii, 

 having long been the favorite flower of Hawaiian royalty. 



The ohe ^^ is also a tree of this region, and though in no way resembling 

 the bamboo, the latter has been given the same name by the natives. It is a 

 low scrubby, thick-trunked tree fifteen to twenty-five feet high growing on ex- 

 posed open hillsides and is one of the rarer trees of the region. The leaves are 

 a foot long and bear from seven to ten ovate leaflets. These are lost in the 

 winter, the flowers appearing before the leaves in the spring. 



The wiliwili ^s is better known than the foregoing and resembles it in shape 

 and habit. The "coral tree," as it is often called, is to be seen in the city, 

 though unfortunately it is becoming yearly more rare in its native habitat — the 

 open country — where it was formerly a common tree on the rocky hills and plains 

 in the lower open regions on all the islands. The tree rarely grows more than 

 twenty-five feet high and belongs to the bean family, or Leguminosce. It has the 

 trunk and limbs armed with short, stiff thorns. The broad spreading crown of 

 stiff, gnarled, whitish branches bearing bean-like leaflets can hardly escape the at- 

 tention of the observer; but should it be in flower (its flowers open before the 

 leaves come out) the wealth of red, orange, or yellow blossoms will be a subject of 

 admiration and remark by the merest holiday rambler. The pods are from an inch 

 and a half to three inches in length with from one to several reddish bean- 

 shaped seeds a half inch or more in length. It is not to be mistaken for the 

 tree in parks and grounds bearing the small disk-shaped seed called wiliwili or 

 red sandalwood^" of tropical Asia, that produces the red lense-shaped "Cir- 



-* Gossypiam tomentosum. -^ Gossypium drynarioides. 

 28 Reynoldsia Sandwicensis. ^b Erythrina rnonosperma 



(Description of Plate Continued from Opposite Page.) 



pepe {Draccena aurea). 6. Hnuhrlc (Ifibiscus Arnottianus). 7. Alaalawainui (Peperomia 

 sp.). 8. Kopiko (Straussid Manmniui). 9. Native Ginger [Awapuhi] (Zingiber Zerum- 

 bet). 10. Naupaka (Scwvoln ('li<iiiiissi>)iiaiia). 11. Koa (Acacia Koa). 12. Kalia (Elwo- 

 carpus bifidius) with diseased inflorescence. 13. Uki (Dianella ensifolia). 14. Uhi (Smilax 

 Sandwicensis) . 



