DICOTYLEDONEAE. 

 ULMACrLAE. 



The family Ulmaceae is at present to be found nearly everywhere in the 

 tropical and extra tropical regions, though they are only sparingly represented in 

 the western part of North America, and are entirely absent in the prairie re- 

 gions as well as in the Asiatic and African deserts, and also in South and West 

 Australia. As far as Hawaii is concerned, the genus Trema is alone of interest. 

 The family consists of 13 genera, with about 117 species. 



TREMA Lour. 

 (Sponia CommJ 



Perigone of the male flowers 5-, rarely 4-parted, as many stamens as segments. Ovary 

 sessile, with permanent styles. Drupe small ovoid or subglobose. crowned by the styles, 

 and enclosed in the perigone. Seeds with a fleshy albumen. Embryo curved or spiral 

 with narrow cotyledons. Trees or shrubs with short petioled, triply or pinnately nerved 

 leaves, and subsessile cymes; monoecious or dioecious. Flowers very small. 



This genus consists of about 30 species, which are all closely related, and occur 

 in the tropics of the old and new world. The most common is T. amboinensis 

 Bhune, which occurs in subtropical and tropical Asia and Australia and the 

 Hawaiian Islands. 



Trema amboinensis Blume. 



TREMA AMBOINENSIS Blume Mus. Lugd. Bot. II (1852) 63; Del Cast. 111. Fl. Ins. 

 Mar. Pac. VII (1892) 294, ,et Fl. Polyn. Fr. (1893) 190; Engler in Engl. et 

 Prantl Pflzfam. Ill, 1 (1893) 65. Celtis amboinensis Willd. Spec. PI. IV. (1806) 

 997; Decaisne, in Brongn., Voy. Coqu. (1828-29) 212, t. 47. Sponia velutina 

 Planch, in Ann. Sc. Nat. 3, ser. X. (1848) 327; Seem. Fl. Vit. (1873) 235. 

 Sponia amboinensis Planch, in A. DC. Prodr. XVII. (1873) 199; Hbd. Fl. Haw. 

 Isl. (1888) 405. 



Leaves ovate oblong, cuspidate, cordate or rounded and often oblique at the base, 

 margins serrate, very rough above, silky tomentose underneath when young; cymes with 

 male, female and hermaphrodite flowers, shortly pedunculate or subsessile; male flowers 

 sparingly pilose, perigone 5-parted to the base; stamens as long as the lobes; ovary obovate 

 without style; female flower 5-fid to the middle; ovary 2-celled; drupe ovoid, puberulous, 

 little fleshy. 



Trema amboinensis, which has no Hawaiian name as far as can be ascertained, 

 is a small tree, 20 to 30 feet in height, whose young branches are covered with 

 a soft gray pubescence. As has already been remarked, the tree is not peculiar 

 to Hawaii, but is found on nearly all the other islands of the Pacific, as, for 

 example, in Samoa. Viti (Fiji), Tahiti, etc., where the tree is much more com- 

 mon than in Hawaii, and where it is also known by several native names. In 

 Hawaii the tree has so far only been found in Manoa Valley and on the northern 

 slope of Kaala, on Oahu, and also at Mapolehu, on the island of Molokai. 



Parts of the tree are used medicinally, mainly for their purgative properties, 

 which are expressed in the Samoan names tio and in; the most common name by 

 which the tree is known in Samoa is fauui, and on Tutuila the name ti'ovale is in 

 use. The name fausoga occurs also in Samoa for this particular tree. From the 

 bark of the fauui or fausoga the natives manufacture a strong fiber which they 

 use for their fish nets. 



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