Malvaceae. 
KOKIA Lewton. 
Tree 4 to 8 m high, woody throughout. Flowers single in the axils of the upper-~ 
most aka peduncle bearing below the middle a broadly sessile, obliquely sree cadu- 
cous, ovate bract. Brasteolee 3, persistent, accrescent, ovate, entire, sinuate or slightly- 
obed, narrowed at the base, not in the least auriculate, coriaceous, glabrous, een 
3 nerved lalyx urceolate, thin scarious, punctate with black warts; 
5, Shallow, rounded, the searious almost hy aline margins overlapping and completely 
enclosing the bud. Calyx tube often with median transverse vein, the upper half of the 
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brownish hairs. Floral nectary naked, extra floral nectaries not evident. Corolla two to 
three times the length of the bracteoles, red. Ovary 5-celled, with one ascending ovum 
in each cell. ones ovoid, ligneous, opening tardily. Seeds ovoid, sharply angled 
on the ventral side, ounded on the dorsal, covered with short brick-red tomentum. 
Cotyledons punctuate with black dots. Bark containing a reddish brown sap. 
This genus established by Lewton consists of two species and one variety. The: 
type is Kokia Rockii Lewton, no. 691082 in the U. S. National Herbarium. The 
co-type is in the Herbarium, College of Hawaii, no. 3549. 
The writer sent specimens of this plant to Mr. Fairchild, agricultural explorer 
in charge of the U. 8S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., at his: 
request, as there were no specimens of this plant in the U. 8. Nat. Herbarium, 
Mr. Fairchild’s attention having been called to this interesting plant in the 
writer’s report to the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry, 
1910. The plants were sent under the name Gossypium drynarioides Seem., with. 
the remark that it is at least a new variety of the plant by the above name, which. 
is found on Molokai, while the writer’s material came from a new locality: 
Slopes of Mt. Hualalai, lava fields of Puuwaawaa, Kona, Hawaii. The specimens, 
with additional notes on the living trees, were furnished Mr. Lewton, who then 
proceeded to describe the plant under a new genus. Specimens of the: 
original Gossypium drynarioides Seem. from Molokai were also sent. Hille- 
brand found one tree on Oahu, with lanceolate bracts, which he called variety 
8. Mr. Lewton named this variety Kokia lanceolata on the strength of a few 
scraps of lanceolate bracts in the Gray Herbarium. The writer does not think 
it justifiable to create a new species on such incomplete material and more or 
less on the strength that it grew on another island. The writer knows, the Ha- 
waiian flora thoroughly, and is well acquainted with tremendous variations found 
in all Hawaiian plants, and therefore prefers to retain the varietal rank rather 
than specific. The plant in question has, however, become extinct. The fact 
that Lewton’s third species grows on another island is not sufficient to make it 
a species. Besides, Makapuu Point, on Oahu, where Hbd’s var. 6 grew, 1S: 
exactly opposite the point on Molokai where Kokia drynarioides grows, and is: 
only about 25 miles distant. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
Bracts broadly obovate, 6.5 em x 8 eMm......---- sees eecerreteree Rockii 
des. 
Bracts broadly ovate, patire, 2.5 to 3 i oe 2 OM ee ees K. drynarioides. 
303 
