138 Ka Hana Kapa. 



We turn from the fibre-producing plants to those used for d^-es, and we shall 

 find the old Hawaiians were as well provided with means to add variety and some- 

 times beaut}' to the tissue when beaten out, as with good qualit}- and variety of fibre- 

 producers. The reader need onl}- turn to the fac simile plates to be convinced that 

 the Hawaiians not onU' had the raw material but used it with skill and taste, perhaps 

 not to be expected in a remote island group. 



Aleurites Forst. Char. Gen. in, t. 56. — Flores monoici v. subdioici, petali- 

 feri. Fl. J : Cah-x junior globosns, clausus, per anthesim in lobos 2-3 valvatim 

 ruptus. Petala 5, calyce longiora. Stamina 8-20, receptacula conico affixa, 5 exteriora 

 petalis opposita glandulis parvis alterna, filameutis liberis brevibus v. elongatis; 

 antherfe erectae, adnatae, loculis parallelis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovarii 

 rudimeutum o. Fl. $ : Perianthium maris. Discus inconspicuus, v. glandulte mi- 

 nutae petalis alternae. Ovarium 2-5-loculare; styli in ramos 2 crassiuscule lineares 

 divisi; ovula in loculis solitaria. Fructus magnus drupaceus, indehiscens, exocarpio 

 carnoso baud crasso, endocarpio crustaceo v. duro 2-5-loculari v. abortu i-loculari. 

 Seminum testa crassa, lignosa; albumen crassum, durum; embryo rectus, cotyledoni- 

 bus latis planis. — Arbores indumento stellari v. subsimplici. Folia alterna, longe 

 petiolata, ampla, basi 5-7-nervia, integerrima v. 3-loba, petiolo apice 2-glanduloso. 

 Flores laxe cvmosi, cymis ad apices ramorum paniculatis. 



A. tnoluccana Willd. DC. Prod, xv, sect, ii, p. 723. — Tree 40-60 ft. high, 

 with soft wood, spreading branches pale-tomentose at the end. Leaves 6-S in. long, 

 var3'ing in shape, either undivided or 3-5-7-lobed, the lobes triangular, acuminate, 

 the base rounded or cordate, silver-green with the rib and nerves on the under side 

 tomentose. Corymb 4-8 in. long, with subulate bracts, the pedicels longer than the 

 calyx. Female calyx twice the size of the male. Petals white with a greenish tinge, 

 oblanceolate in the $ flower, and bearded at the base, linear oblong in the ? . Stamens 

 about 18, filaments hispid, anthers erect, introrse. Ovar}' hair}-, 2-celled. Fruit 

 fleshy, coriaceous, subglobose, about 2 inches in diameter, often double. 



Common on all the islands, especially on the lower slopes of the mountains, 

 which are brightened by its silvery foliage. Known to all Polynesians as Kukui or 

 Tutui, to others as the Candle-nut tree, from the ancient use of the roasted nuts 

 strung on palm-leaf midribs as candles, a custom in use forty years ago in the grass 

 house of the country. From the acrid juice from the rind of the nut they prepared 

 a black dye, also used in tatuing; but the soot of the burning nut was a better black. 

 The bark furnished a brown dye very common and durable. The /»/'A?// or gum exud- 

 ing from the stem was a good adhesive, and the oil expressed from the nuts was used to 



