Myrtaceae. 



flat slightly winged petioles of about 6 mm in length, not prominently veined, but midrib 

 conspicuous; cyme branches divaricate, peduncles slender of varying length though hardly 

 longer than 10 mm; pedicels half the length; calyx campanulate, the lobes rounded and 

 equaling the tube in length, margins scarious; petals, bright red, almost orbicular twice 

 the length of the calyx lobes, stamens bright red, barely 2 em in length, capsule half free. 



The Lehua ahihi is one of the handsomest species of the genus Metrosideros. 

 The fine bright green graceful foliage stands quite distinct from all the other 

 species and varieties and certainly deserves specific rank. It can be found on 

 Oahu at the lower elevation around Tantalus back of Honolulu, and in nearly- 

 all the neighboring valleys on their upper slopes at about 1000-2000 feet eleva- 

 tion. When in full flower the slender branches are drooping and almost con- 

 tinually in motion, whence its specific name. 



Var. Waialealae Rock. var. nov. 



Leaves larger, bright green above pale underneath, with bright red midrib and leaf- 

 margin, 5 to 7 cm long, 2 to 2.5 cm wide, coriaceous, acute at the base, acuminate-caudate 

 at the apex, the apex curved, the bright red petiole 15 to 20 mm long, flat and somewhat 

 margined; flowers as in the species; fruits very large, the same size as in M. macropuSv 

 the calyx-lobes persistent but the capsule projecting almost its whole height beyond the 

 calyx, almost free; seeds linear, lunulate, pointed at each end. 



This variety is peculiar to the summit ridge of Mt. Waialeale on Kauai, where 

 it was observed and collected by the writer. It certainly is the most beautiful 

 Metrosideros or Ohia lehua known to him. It only grows at a certain ridge at 

 the summit of the mountain of Kauai where it forms pure stands with hardly 

 any other tree around it. It is a small tree 25 feet high. Collected flowering 

 and fruiting Sept. 24, 1909, Mt. "Waialeale, Kauai, elev. 5200 feet, type no. 5083, 

 in College of Hawaii Herbarium. 



Metrosideros rugosa Gray. 

 Lehua papa. 

 (Plate 134.) 



METEOSIDEKOS EUGOSA Gray Bot. U. S. E. E. (185§) 561. t. 69 B.;— Mann in Proe. 

 Am. Acad. VII. (1867) 166, et Haw. Isl. (1867) 244;— Wawra in Flora (1873) 

 173;— Hbd. Fl, Haw. Isl. (1888) 127;— Niedz. in Engl, et Prantl Pflzfam. III. 7. 

 (1893) 87.— Metrosideros polymorpha Del Cast. 111. Fl. Ins. Mar. Pac. VI, (1890) 

 167 (ex parte). — Nania rugosa Kuntze Rev. Gen. PI. (1891) 242; — Heller in 

 Minnes. Bot. Stud. Bull. IX. (1897) 864. 



A small tree or shrub, with quadrangular branchlets, only the ultimate ones tomen- 

 tose; leaves orbicular, about 2.5 cm in diameter, thick and coriaceous, strikingly rugose 

 above and deeply impressed along the veins, which are remarkably strong and ridged 

 underneath, the under-surface thickly tomentose with a ferruginous wool as arc the leaf- 

 buds on both faces, the petiole scarcely 2 mm; cymes small, solitary or in pairs at thd 

 summit of the branches, the peduncles and their divisions short and stout, thick tomen- 

 tose, the whole subtended by rather conspicuous and coriaceous bud-scales; bractlets as 

 long as the calyx, oval tomentose, soon deciduous; flowers snbsessile, about as large as 

 in the common species; calyx tomentose; petals and stamens red, the former pubescent; 

 ovary deeply immersed in the tube of the calyx, its summit only free. 



This species, which is called Lehua papa by the natives, is peculiar to the 

 Island of Oahu, where it can be found at the summits of the ridges of the main 



335 



