242 NATURAL PIISTOEY OF HAWAII. 



giving- it a thiclc comma shape. When ripe the fruit is a rich yeUow with apple- 

 red elieok on the side turned toward the sun. But they vary in size, shape and 

 color as much as apples do, for, like the api)h'. they seldom come true from the 

 seed. 



The tree is supposed to have originally come from India. It is the only one 

 of thirty or more species belonging to the genus 3Ia)igifera that has any value. 

 As many as live hundred varieties have been reported from India, and perhaps 

 forty 01' lil'ly of the best sorts to be found are established in Honolulu. While 

 usually gfown from seed they may also be propagated by budding. This, un- 

 fortunatel\-, is a somewhat difficult process involving much care and skill. Within 

 the last few years the trees here have been affected with a blight not common 

 elsewhere. It is due to a fungus disease that is thought to be aided in spreading 

 by tlir l)luc-l)()ttle flies and other insects carrying the spores from flower to flower. 

 It will Ik' noticed that the sooty mould, when severe, often gives the whole tree a 

 blackened appearance. 



Monkey-pod. 



In almost every yard and square about the city, and indeed over the whole 

 group, will l)e found one or more monkey-pod trees.-^ The better name for the 

 tree is samang; although it is sometimes called the rain-tree, since it blossoms 

 at the beginning of the rainy season in its native home in tropical America. 

 It is an exotic, liaving long been introduced. It belongs to the great group of 

 acacia-like plants, and has compound or multi-compound leaves. Like inost of its 

 relatives it has the habit of closing its leaves in sleep at night. After sun- 

 down it presents a wilted appearance and does much toward changing the aspect 

 of the whole city after nightfall. Trees of this species that are several feet 

 in diameter at the girth and spreading shade over a space 150 feet across, 

 are to be commonly seen about the islands. It is a permanent shade tree, and aside 

 from the litter of the discarded leaves and pods and a slightly ragged appear- 

 ance dui'ing the winter season it is highly desirable as an ornamental tree. As 

 a tree to be planted along the sidewalks it is hardly to be recommended, as it 

 grows at such a furious rate that it is liable to lift the walk and injure the 

 curbing. It is therefore a tree better suited to ample lawns, open spaces and 

 parks. 



The Algaroba. 



Of all the introduced trees the algaroba -*' is the favorite. It is a mesquite, 

 perhaps of the southwestern United States and IMexico, and has been greatly im- 

 proved and modified by the change of environment. The original tree in Hawaii 

 grew from a seed planted in 1837 on Fort street, near Beretania, by Father 

 Batchelot, founder of the Roman Catholic mission. It is thought that the seed 

 was brought from Mexico, though this point is far from being settled by the his- 

 torians of the islands. The tree is still in a thrifty condition and is the pro- 



2^ Pitherolnhiiim Snmaiuj. 28 Prosnpin jiilifliira. 



