Elaeocarpaceae 



A genus of more than 60 species of trees. It is distributed from India 

 through the Malayan Archipelago to Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zea- 

 land ; also over the Philippines to Japan, with a single species in Hawaii. 



Elaeocarpus bifidus Hook, et Arn. 

 Kalia. 



(Plate 113.) 



ELAEOCARPUS BITIDUS Hook et Am. Bot. Beech. (1832) 110, t. 24; Endl. Fl. Suds. 

 (1836) no. 14; A. Gray, Bot. U. S. E. E. (1854) 205; H. Mann, Proc. Am. Acad. 

 VII (1867) 158, et Fl. Haw. Isl. (1867) 143;-Wawra in Flora (1873) 171; 

 Hbd. Fl. Haw. Isl. (1888) 53; Del Cast. 111. Fl. Ins. Mar. Pac. VI. (1890) 126; 

 Heller PI. Haw. Isl. (1897) 850. Beythea bifida End. Gen. PI. Walp. Rep. I. (1840) 

 365 et V. 121. 



Leaves ovate to ovate-oblong 10 to 18 cm long, 5 to 9 cm wide, on petioles of 5 cm, 

 acuminate, crenate or bluntly serrate, often nearly entire, chartaceous; stipules lanceolate, 

 2 mm long, caducous; racemes 25 to 50 mm long with 5 to 8 flowers on pedicels of 12 mm; 

 sepals narrow lanceolate, petals as long as sepals, about 8 mm, greenish, linear oblong, 

 shortly bifid or scarcely emarginate, pubescent on both faces; stamens 13 to 16, 1/3 the 

 length of the sepals, with short filaments; anthers obtuse or emarginate, ovary ovoid, 

 2 to 3 celled, tapering into the simple 2 to 3 grooved style; ovules 3 to 6 in each cell, 

 stone fruit olive-shaped, 25 to 30 mm long, the putamen thick woody; seeds generally 

 solitary, rarely two, with a thin testa. 



The Kalia is a perfectly glabrous tree, reaching a height of 30 to 40 feet, with 

 a trunk of several inches to sometimes a foot in diameter. The bark is dark-gray, 

 one-fourth of an inch thick, and roughened. Its branches are drooping and 

 sending out many branchlets, which are gummy at their ends. The flowers of 

 the Kalia are attacked by an insect, which accounts for the monstrous deforma- 

 tion of the flowers, which can be seen on nearly every tree. The insect is a 

 species of Acari. The layman would certainly mistake it for the flowers, as its 

 bright-red color is not altogether unattractive. The writer on all of his rambles 

 found very few trees, indeed, which had normal flowers. The real flowers, how- 

 ever, are small and greenish and rather inconspicuous. The drupe is olive- 

 shaped and over an inch long, with usually one seed, rarely two. 



The Kalia is most common on Kauai, where it inhabits the leeward side at 

 an elevation of 3500 to 4000 feet. It is distinctly a tree of the rain forest, and 

 is never found in the dry region or on lava fields. 



It loves boggy forests and gray loam. It associates with Straussia, Bobea, 

 Clieirodendron platypliyllum, Cryptocarya Mannii, Pelea sp., etc. On Oahu it 

 is not uncommon and can be found on all the ranges, windward and leeward. 

 It is, however, not as common as on Kauai, where it forms 30 per cent of the 

 leeward forest. On all the explorations undertaken by the writer he was un- 

 able to find a single tree on any of the other islands, making the tree peculiar 

 to Kauai and Oahu. This may be explained on account of the large seed, which 

 is impossible to be carried either by birds or winds, and as the tree inhabits the 

 middle forests zones, the ocean currents can have nothing to do with its dis- 

 persal, especially as the seeds are not buoyant. 



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