410 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The lehua is one of the very few native trees that yields 

 timber of commercial importance, and that has been ex- 

 ploited by lumber companies. 



The ohi'a lehua is thus seen to occupy a prominent 

 place in the Hawaiian forests and flora, and the present 

 paper is an effort to 

 present the salient facts 

 concerning this interest- 

 ing tree. During a ten 

 year's residence in the 

 islands, the author has 

 had opportunity to visit 

 and explore repeatedly 

 the lehua forests on the 

 various islands. Fur- 

 thermore, the Hawaiian 

 chants and legends 

 abound with references 

 to the lehua, and some 

 of this extremely inter- 

 esting " folk-material is 

 incorporated in this pa- 

 per, being presented in 

 this form for the first 

 time. 



A few words con- 

 cerning the myrtaceous 

 genus Metrosideros, 

 of which polymorpha is 

 a prominent member. 

 The name is from the 

 Greek, literally "iron- 

 womb" or "heart," re- 

 ferring to the hard, 

 heavy heart-wood that 

 characterizes members 

 of this genus. There 

 are about twenty spe- 

 cies, chiefly confined to 

 the islands of the Pa- 

 cific, from New Zea- 

 land to the Hawaiian 

 group. One species oc- 

 curs in tropical Aus- 

 tralia and another in 

 South Africa. It is inter- 

 esting to note that eight 

 fossil species have been 

 discovered, one from 

 the Middle Cretaceous 

 of Greenland, the oth- 

 ers from the European 

 Tertiary. The living species are mainly trees or shrubs; 

 some of the South Pacific forms are lianas. Several 

 rather remarkable species are climbing during the juvenile 

 state, and later become self-supporting. The Hawaiian 

 lehua shows traces of this habit. The leaves are opposite 

 and pinnately veined ; flowers usually showy, prevailingly 

 red, and strongly marked by their crown of very num- 



THE "MOTHER" OF THE LEHUA 



So native tradition lias it. This beautiful tree fern, thirty feet high and three feet 

 in diameter, is growing on the Volcano Road, Hilo. 



erous, long, erect stamens ; flowers borne in dense termi- 

 nal three- forked cymes; ovules arranged in many series, 

 horizontal or ascending. 



The primitive Hawaiians were excellent botanists, in 

 their way, and had distinctive names for a very large 



proportion of the wild 

 plants. They knew the 

 forests minutely, and 

 had a comprehensive 

 plant lore. There are 

 many evidences of an 

 incipient Polynesian bi- 

 nomial system for the 

 naming of natural ob- 

 jects, trees, birds, 

 fishes, seaweeds, and the 

 like, and the lehua well 

 illustrates this. Ohi'a 

 was the generic term, 

 applied to a number of 

 myrtaceous trees in Eu- 

 genia and Metrosideros. 

 To this generic term 

 was added a specific 

 name, as follows: 



Ohi'a ai Eugenia 



malaccensis. 



Olii'a ha Eugenia 



sandwicense. 



Olii'a lehua. . .Metrosi- 

 deros polymorpha. 



Ohi'a lehua. . .Metrosi- 

 deros macro pus. 



Ohi'a ahihi. . .Metrosi- 

 deros tremulides. 



Ohi'a papa. . .Metrosi- 

 deros rugosa. 



Furthermore, varieties 

 within the species were 

 carefully discriminated 

 by the keen-eyed Poly- 

 nesians, and we find 

 such terms as Lehua 

 makanoe, Lehua ku- 

 makua, Lehua mamo, 

 Lehua lau-lii, Lehua 

 pua-kea, etc. The ac- 

 curacy with which the 

 ancient Hawaiian used 

 his biological vocabu- 

 lary, particularly with 

 reference to nomencla- 

 ture, has evoked the surprise and admiration of the 

 Occidental scientists who have visited the islands. 



The specific name of the lehua, polymorpha, is most 

 appropriate. No other plant species in the Hawaiian 

 flora manifests so wide a range of variability, especially 

 as regards habitat, habit, and foliage characters. This 

 species is not endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, but is 



