Sapindaeeae. 



Alectryon macrococcus Radlk. 



Mahoe. 



(Plates 107 and 108.) 



ALECTRYON MACEOCOCCUS Eadlk. in Sitzber. k. Bayer. Acad. XX (1890) 255, et in 

 Engl, et Prantl Pflzfam. III. 5. (1895) 333, et in Bull. Hawaii Bd. Agric. and 

 Forest. I. (1911) 1^ — Eock Eep. Hawaii Board Agric. and For. (1910) 81. pi. 19. 

 et Bull. Bd. Agric. and For. I (1911) 2. pi. 1. in part. — Mahoe gen. nov.? Hbd. 

 Fl. Haw. Isl. (1888) 86.— Dodonaea sp. Del Castill. 111. Fl. Ins. Mar. Pae. VI. 

 (1890) 144 in obs. ad. Dod. vise. — Vulgo Mahoe in Molokai et Maui (quo nomine 

 in Nuov-Zealandia Melicytus ramiflorus Forst. salutatur t. Kirk, in Forest Fl. 

 N.-Zeal. 1889. 3.). 



Medium sized tree; branches terete, glabrous, young branches striate, with new leaves 

 covered with an appressed yellowish silky tomentum; leaves with 2 to 5 pair of leaflets; 

 the latter large, opposite, elliptical or subovate, obtuse at both ends, or with an acuminate 

 apex, petioled, entire undulate, coriaceous to chartaceous, 10 to 18 cm long, 4 to 10 em 

 wide, the lateral nerves oblique; shining above, densely tomentose underneath with a 

 yellowish brown tomentum; panicles axillary; female flowers small, on pedicels of 2 mm, 

 calyx 5-lobed, the lobes 2 mm, subacute, persistent with the young fruits; petals none, 

 rudimentary; stamens 6-8, in sinuses within the pubescent discus-margin, filaments very 

 short, hirsute; anthers red, 1 mm long, subdidymous at the base; ovary compressed, 

 densely hirsute, 1 to 2 celled; style short, almost arched, with a bifid stigma; male flowers 

 unknown; fruits of 1 to 2 cocci; young fruits covered densely with yellowish-golden 

 setulose hair, crowned by the remnants of the style, mature fruits glabrous, dark brown 

 cortieose-coriaceous, globose 3 to 6 em in diameter; or of one coccus with 1 to 2 abortive 

 ones, largest for the genus; arillus scarlet, seeds with a erustaceous testa, brown, shining, 

 (In the Herbarium of the College of Hawaii No. 8642). 



The Mahoe, which is the single representative of the genus Alectryon in the 

 Hawaiian Islands, is a medium-sized tree 20 to 25 feet tall, with a trunk of per- 

 haps 6 to 8 inches in diameter. The bark is brown, somewhat rough; the wood 

 is hard, dark yellowish-brown, and. very tough. 



It is an ungainly tree. The branchlets and inflorescence, as well as young 

 fruits, are covered with a dense coat of silky-brown hair; the leaves are large, 

 having from 2 to 4 leaflets, which are glabrous above and tomentose underneath. 

 The fruits of the Mahoe, which are of very large size, have the color of a 

 potato and are perfectly smooth. They hang in clusters from the branches and 

 become ruptured when mature, the fissure being irregular, exposing a bright 

 scarlet aril and the glossy surface of the chestnut-brown orbicular seed, giving 

 a not altogether unpleasing contrast. Flowering and fruiting trees were ob- 

 served by the writer during the month of November, who would judge, how- 

 ever, that the flowering period would fall during the late summer months, as 

 most of the trees bore young fruits and old ones from the previous year. 



The Mahoe inhabits the dry regions on the leeward side of the islands. It 

 is very scarce on Oahu, where it grows in Makaha valley of the Kaala range, 

 and practically extinct on Molokai ; on Kauai it was found by Mr. Francis Gay 

 back of Makaweli, while the writer discovered a new locality from which it had 

 not been reported previously. About seven miles from Ulupalakua, on the 

 Island of Maui, is a small area of forest on the lava fields of Auahi. Unprom- 

 ising as it looks from the road, this forest is botanically, nevertheless, one of the 

 richest in the Territory. It is there that the Mahoe is not uncommon, and still 



277 



