Ebenaceae. 



The Lama inhabits the wet as well as the dry regions on all the islands of the 

 group. The small leaved form occurs on the Koolau range of Oahu, as in 

 Manoa Valley and Niu as well as all along toward Kahuku. Back of Hilo on 

 Hawaii it is a very common tree, reaching a height of 40 feet; in this latter 

 locality it is quite common in company with Straussia, Metrosideros, etc., fol- 

 lowing immediately the Pandanus forest. The trunk of the Lama is vested in a 

 black rather smooth bark, but in old trees the bark becomes rough and scaly, 

 forming irregular squares of a dark gray color. The tree is common on all the 

 islands of the group, but especially so in the dry districts, where it forms often 

 pure stands, as in the low lands of Kapua in South Kona where the writer met 

 with the finest trees with perfectly straight trunks of a foot in diameter. It 

 grows in company with Ale H rites Moluccana, Pittosporum Hosmeri var. longi- 

 folia, and Antidesma pulvinatum. The berries, which are of a reddish yellow 

 color when mature, are quite palatable and are eaten by the natives and birds. 

 The trees fruit prolifically during the late winter months, especially in the 

 month of February, when the trees are loaded with the bright colored fruits. 



The wood is very hard, close grained, and of a rich reddish brown color when 

 old; it was employed in building houses for the gods. A block of Lama wood 

 was always placed upon the Kualiu, altar, in the temple of the goddess of the 

 sacred Hula dance, Laka, which latter personality it represented. This un- 

 carved block was wrapped in choice yellow tapa, scented with turmeric and was 

 set conspicuously upon the altar.* The wood was also used in making sacred 

 inclosures for other tabu purposes. 



A variety /? Hbd. with ovate or ovate oblong, larger leaves, which are broadly 

 rounded at the base, and pubescent underneath, occurs on the lava flows and 

 on the leeward sides of the islands in general, but always in dry situations. 

 On Kauai the variety has the largest leaves 10 to 12.5 cm x 5 to 5.5 cm. 



Maba Hillebrandii Seem. 



MABA HILLEBRANDII Seem, in Flora Vitiensis (1866) 151; H. Mann 1. c.; Hillebr. 

 Fl. Hw. Isl. (1888) 275; Gurke in Engl. et Prantl Natiirl. Pflzfam. 1. c.; Del 

 Cast 1. c. Ebenus Hillebrandii O. Ktze. Kev. Gen. PI. II. (1891) 408. 



Leaves oblong, 8 to 12 cm long, 3.5 to 6 cm wide, on petioles of 4 mm, obtuse or bluntly 

 acute, contracted, rounded or truncate or even emarginate at the base, glabrous, dark green, 

 coriaceous, smooth on the lower face, but deeply rugose on the upper by a close and 

 fine areolar network; bracts and calyx glabrous, coriaceous, the latter 3-fid almost to the 

 middle with broad triangular acute lobes; corolla 7 mm, hairy, shortly 3-toothed; stamens 

 9, short, glabrous, with pointed anthers; fruit obovoid, about 2 cm long and 15 to 18 

 mm in diameter, pubescent at the apex only. 



This species, which is quite different from the lama, is endemic in the Ha- 

 waiian Islands and is peculiar to Oahu, where it can be found in the hills of 



Emerson, Unwritten Literature of Hawaii. 



395 



