414 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



4. Veteran trees. As has previously been indicated, 

 along the windward coast of Hawaii, from Kohala to 

 Puna, but particularly in the latter district, the lehua 

 reaches its finest development. This may be taken as 



EDGE OF THE NATURAL FOREST 



Most 



>st of the trees in this section are Ohia trees (Metrosideros polymorpha), 

 Olinda Maui, Hawaiian Islands. Note the characteristic light bark. 



lehua tree is rarely wind-shattered, whereas the koa 

 {Acacia Koa) for example, is often badly disfigured by 

 the wind. The lehua is slowly self-pruning, and old 

 trees in the forest have clean smooth trunks rising to 

 forty or fifty feet without a branch. 



The wood is known commercially as oh? a, although 

 this is in reality a generic, rather than a specific name. 

 When oh?a timber or wood is specified, the term in- 

 variably signifies ohi'a lehua. The wood is strong, tough, 

 fine-grained, and very durable. In color it is rich dark 

 reddish-brown ; the red tint is pronounced, and gives 

 beautiful effects in hardwood floors and interior trim. 

 ' In its mechanical and structural properties ohi'a lehua 

 is comparable to the best oak, although it cannot be ob- 

 tained in as large sizes. Occasionally boles of three or 

 four feet in diameter are obtained, but these are rare, 

 and the average diameter of the trunk is about two feet. 

 Timbers cut from the more or less buttressed basal part 

 of the trunk sometimes exhibit a beautiful curly or 

 wavy grain, resembling the famous "curly Koa" used 

 in the Hawaiian ukuleles. In recent years local com- 

 panies have undertaken the commercial exploitation of 

 the lehua forests, and large quantities of the lumber 

 have been exported, as well as utilized locally. The 

 ohi'a lehua is a slow-growing species, and upon the con- 

 summation of the present epoch of exploitation, unless 



, , . , '. . ^conservative principles of forestry be applied, the sup- 



the normal habit of the tree, the other types representing^ ^ ^ of the .j,^ Hawaiian sandalwood> will 



the direct effects of repressive conditions. In the region , .. , , , , , , , . , r 



.. , ' . . be practically exhausted for a considerable period of 



just specified are almost pure stands of lehua, rising to 



eighty or one hundred feet, with tall slender trunks, and _. ' , . , r a , , , ., 



. . . . r ,~.. . . The wood is used for flooring, paving blocks, rail- 



a dense undergrowth of tree ferns (Cibotium). Ihese ,.,., . . . \T , 1 



, - . . . . , , , r 1 road ties, bridge timbers, and other purposes in which 



are the finest forests in the archipelago, both from the ...... ... Z, , , , 



, . e , . , . , . . , -.durability is of special importance. I wo drawbacks to 

 standpoint of their beauty, and of the quantity of com- <** 



mercially valuable timber which they contain. In these 



forests the typical lehua has a trunk two to four feet i* 



diameter, with or without aerial prop-roots, and branclvf 



ing at a distance of thirty to sixty feet above the ground. 



The crowns form a high dense canopy ; the trunks are 



often covered with epiphytic plants and lianas ; and the 



ground is very wet and spongy. 



Lehua bark is light gray, irregularly fissured, and jt 

 quite scaly on old trees. The gray color is so character- 

 istic that by it alone the trunk may be recognized at a 

 distance. The bark is relatively thick, even on young 

 twigs and branches; on old trees it becomes an inch or 

 more in thickness. The slow growth of the lehua causes 

 the young twigs to be conspicuously marked with the 

 close-set leaf-scars. This and other features give even 

 the young trees an aspect of endurance and senility. 

 Many of the Hawaiian tree species, especially at the 

 upper levels, assume this appearance of great age at a 

 very early stage; this is not wholly a matter of appear- 

 ance, for most of the species are very slow-growing. 



The lehua branches are often angular and gnarled ; 

 those of trees growing in the rain-forest are ascending 

 and form a flat summit crown. Trees growing in the 

 open, as on lava flows, have the branches more sym- 

 metrically disposed along the trunk. The branches are 

 mostly of small size, but are tough and flexible. The 



TYPICAL UNDERGROWTH IN A LEHUA FOREST 

 Tree-ferns are the most abundant and distinctive feature. 



