Rutaceae. 



slopes of Mauna Loa at an elevation of 4000 feet, in the Kipuka Puaulu, near 

 the Volcano Kilauea on Hawaii. Only two trees were observed; both were of 

 the same size, about 40 feet in height, with stout, ungainly looking, ascending 

 branches. Collected flowering and fruiting July 20, 1911. Type is no. 10208 in 

 the College of Hawaii Herbarium. 



Xanthoxylum dipetalum Mann. var. -/ Hbd. 

 Kawau on Kauai. 



XANTHOXYLUM DIPETALUM Mann. var. -y Hbd. Fl. Haw. lal. 1. c. p.; Wawra in 

 Flora (1873) 139. Connarus ? Kauaiensis Mann Proc. Am. Acad. VII. (1867) 162. 



Leaves on short petioles of 1 cm, 3 to 1 foliolate, with the supplementary pair of 

 stipellif )rm leaflets besides, obovate-oblong, thick coriaceous and quite opaque, with promi- 

 nent veins and a distinct intramarginal nerve; panicles as in the species, few flowered; 

 female flowers: sepals 4, 1 mm long, rounded, puberulous, as are the 4 lanceolate petals; 

 stamens wanting, ovary glabrous, styles apparently two, but not distinct as in var. 

 yeminicarpum, appearing only to be grooved, united at the apex by a broad, flat, orbicu- 

 lar, grooved stigma; male flowers: petals 2, ovoid, smaller, only two-thirds the length of 

 the female flower, anthers 4, less than half the length of the petals, 2.5 mm, including 

 the 0.5 mm long filament, ovary rudimentary; follicle single, 3 cm long, including the 6 

 mm long acumen at the apex, slightly pitted, woody; seed ovoid, 2 cm, the hard woody 

 testa covered with a black, shining, thin and brittle epidermis, the raphe extending its 

 entire length; cotyledons thick fleshy, plano-convex, the radicle very short and enclosed. 



This exceedingly interesting tree reaches a height of more than 30 feet with a 

 trunk of often over a foot in diameter. It favors the outskirts of the forests 

 on the leeward side of Kauai, especially at Kaholuamano and Halemanu above 

 Waimea at an elevation of 3600 to 4000 feet. It is found in company with 

 Pelea anisata, Bobea Mannii, Pelea Kauaiensis, Elaeocarpus bifidus, Cyanea lepto- 

 stegia, Tetraplasandra Waimeae, Sideroxylon sandwicense, Alphitonia excelsa, 

 Pterotropia kauaiensis, and others which make up this very interesting mixed 

 forest. 



On Kauai, to which island this tree is peculiar, its trunk was in great demand 

 for tapa or kapa logs or anvils on which the strips of the wauke bark were beaten. 

 The yellowish wood of this tree was especially in favor with the natives on ac- 

 count of the resonant tones it produced when struck with a tapa beater made of 

 some of the hard woods, such as Uhiuhi, Kauila, and others. The sound of the 

 tapa beating would be heard from valley to valley, and constituted a regular 

 system of communication by means of a code. 



This Kawau tree, or as it is also termed Kawau kua kuku kapa, is the subject of 

 a mele or old Hawaiian song, which begins thus: "Mehe Kawau laka ale i ka 

 moana, etc. ' ' As the Kawau so is the sound of the ocean. The old natives evi- 

 dently had reference to the sounds produced by the pounding surf, which can 

 be heard for a long distance, and compared it with the resonant sound produced 

 when beating tapa on the Kawau log. According to Mr. Francis Gay of Kauai, 

 the natives of that island preferred this tree to any other for the above described 

 purpose. 



210 



