Rhamnaceae. 
ALPHITONIA Reissek. 
Flowers polygamous; sepals, petals and stamens 5; dise flat annular. Style 2 to 3 fid. 
Ovary 2 to 3 celled. Fruit below and at the ae invested by the cup-shaped calyx- 
tube and coalesced with the same; exocarp stro r de voloet oe but not so much 
e Hawaiian plants. Endocarp divided ste : = 3 cocci with woody or crustaceous 
ening r i 
seed completely. After the ears away of the Bp Se the seeds remain on 
ceptacle; in the Hawaiian plant the pericarp never falls away but it is often not even 
cracked owing to the calyx aa investing the phe up fee the middle and even beyond. 
(A fact which Hillebrand pointed out and correctly). with leaves, petioles, and 
in sce re: Leaves alternate, coriaceous, go erved, Ms aaly ovate to 
lanceolate, glabrous above, with a lle to reddish brown fasion vost ak Flow 
ers in terminal or = lateral loose ¢ eym 
The genus Alphitonia consists “of a single Spee. variable species, which 
is distributed from Australia to Polynesia and Born 
In Hawaii the tree is known as Kauila. alana in his Flora of the Ha- 
Waiian Islands described it as a new species, ‘‘ Alphitonia ponderosa.’’ It is true 
it is a quite different plant from those in the writer’s possession from Australia. 
In the Australian plants the fruits are barely 6 mm. in diameter and are cracked 
to the base, while the Hawaiian plants have the fruits 14 mm. in diameter; they 
also are hardly even split; only on rare occasions the writer found cracked fruits 
on a tree. 
He, however, refers this tree to A. excelsa, as he has not seen the intermediates 
of the Australian and South Polynesian plants. 
Alphitcnia excelsa Reiss. 
Kauila, Kauwila or O’a on Maui. 
(Plate 112.) 
piece atte EXCELSA Reiss. ex Endl. Gen. (1840) 1098;—Seem, Fl. Vit. A Site a 
H. Mann, Proc. Am, Acad, VII. (1867) 161, et Fl. Haw. Isl. (1867) 1 
in Flora (1873) 170;—Del Cast. Ill. Fl. Ins. Mar. Pacif. VI. (1890) 140. (ex parte) 
et Fl. Polyn. Frane. (1893) 33;—Weberb, in Engl. et Prantl bE ieee We. 96) 419 ey 
Tahiti ‘As60) 2 230. oe maderris zizyphoides Hook. et Arn. Bot. Beech. 
. Suds, oe ae 1570;—Guill. Zephyr. Tit eee 451 
roe bs gree _ E, (1854) 278 t. 22;—Nadeaud Ennm. (1873) 2 no, 451.— 
rr guloides oe me 280 t. 22.—Zizphoides re Soland. Prim. os "i 
378, et in Parkins Draw. Tahit. Pl. ined. ef. Seem, I. ¢.)—A. ponderosa Hd. 
ew Tsk (1888) 81;—Del Cast. 1. —Heller pt Haw: Isl. (1897) 8 : 
Tinves ovate, ovate-oblo ong, lanceolate, praen acute, entire, dark green above, i 
@ rust colored ¢ tomentum underneath; flowers in the axils of the youngest leaves, in 8 naa 
tomentose dicho ymes; ca aie x 6 mm, lobes expanded; petals Se 3 fd: 
lobes, ee: enclosing ee short stamens; anthers ovoid, style very ong be “ae 
hd it "glo bos o 18 mm in diam. ringed at the middle by the boner of the Se y 
ths Haw rsd a pea sivaoee oo arillus a dark red separable film enveloping 
the whole seed. Cotyledons oro ong: h 
The Kauila is a stately tree te attains its greatest height, 80 —_ sn f 
Island of Kauai, especially in the forest of Kopiwai. It has a straight trun ss 
1% to 2 feet in diameter with a whitish deeply corrugated bark in the dry dis- 
tricts. 
285 
