THE FIRST ALGAROBA TREE IN HAWAII 



BY C. S. JUDD, SUPERINTENDENT OF FORESTRY 



NO introduced tree has been of greater benefit to the 

 Hawaiian Islands than the algaroba (Prosopis 

 juliflora, D. C), one of the mesquites, or kiawe, 

 as it is locally called. It is also known as the honey 

 locust, honey pod, cashaw, and July flower, and our name 

 for the tree of alga- 

 roba comes from 

 "Al-kharrubah," the 

 Spanish name of the 

 carob tree, or St. 

 John's bread, the 

 pods of which it re- 

 sembles in flavor. 

 The native home of 

 the algaroba is from 

 California to Texas 

 and through parts 

 of Mexico, Central 

 and South America, 

 as far south as 

 Buenos Ayres. 



While the history 

 of its introduction to 

 Hawaii is not defi- 

 nite, the conclusion 

 seems to be that the 

 first tree planted in 

 the islands was 

 raised from seed 



brought by Father Bachelot when he started out 

 from Bordeaux in the early part of 1827 on his first 

 trip to the Islands, and that the seed came from the 

 Jardin du Roi de Paris and not from Mexico or 

 Chile. This original tree was planted by Father 

 Bachelot in December, 1828, in the north corner of 

 the Catholic Church yard in Honolulu. Certainly, 

 no man could have left a greater or more abiding 

 monument, for the algaroba now covers vast areas 

 on the different islands of mostly stony, arid, and 

 precipitous land, which formerly was utterly worth- 

 less for other purposes. 



The original tree is still growing on Fort Street, 

 near Beretania Street, and although it was severely 

 topped in 1906, to make room for the Fred Harrison 

 block, it has today a diameter at breast height of 

 3 feet 3 inches, and is still good for a great many 

 years. The accompanying illustration shows the 

 tree when it was in its full splendor about twelve 

 years ago. 



The value of the algaroba in Hawaii has been en- 

 hanced by the ease with which it can be propagated and 

 its ability to grow in arid regions. The tree belongs to 

 the leguminous family, and begins to bear pods when 

 six years old and even younger. These are eaten by 



stock, but the small, horny seeds are not crushed while 

 passing through the alimentary system but rather are 

 prepared for quick germination by the action of the 

 digestive fluids. The spread of the tree in these islands 

 has, therefore, been due solely to stock and by this 

 means the algaroba has become a 

 wild forest tree. It is estimated 

 that it would have cost at least 

 one million dollars to plant by 

 human agency the 80,000 odd 

 acres in these islands which have 

 been covered with more or less 

 density by algaroba forests. And 

 this wonderful and comparatively 

 rapid spread of the tree has been 

 accomplished without the expendi- 

 ture of one cent for planting. 



The algaroba in Hawaii seems 

 to excell in growth the tree in its 

 original habitat. In Arizona, 

 trees 75 years old are from 10 to 

 12 inches in diameter, and near 

 Tucson trees measure 3 feet in 

 diameter at the ground and 50 

 feet in height. On the Punahou 

 grounds a tree not 

 yet 70 years old 

 measures 41 inches 

 in diameter at breast 

 height and 85 feet 

 in height, while trees 

 on the Dillingham 

 place, which are 50 

 years old, average 

 over 2 feet in diame- 

 ter. The tree in 

 these islands is a 

 comparatively rapid 

 grower, and takes 

 hold of waste land 

 in a surprising man- 

 ner. It has few 

 natural enemies; the 

 caterpillars of two 

 introduced and very 

 common moths af- 

 fect the bloom and 

 occasionally reduce 

 the size of the bean 

 crop, and the grubs 

 or four beetles bore into the sapwood of dead or 

 felled trees. 



The uses of the tree, in addition to being a forest cover 

 for waste land, are too well known to need much elabo- 

 ration here. The following, however, are some of the 



AND ALL THAT IS LEFT OF IT 



