1/2 Sapotaceae-Oleaceae. 
SAPOTACEAE 
Guttapercha Family. 
The Sapotaceae include quite a number of fruit trees, some of 
which are cultivated in the Islands, as for example, Achras sapota L., 
the Chico of Mexico, a species of Bumelia, Chrysophyllum Cainito 
L. the Star-apple, and Chrysophyllum monopyrenum S\v. the so- 
called Damascene Plum. Of interest here is Mimusops elengi L., 
a tree reaching a height of forty-five feet. The leaves are green, 
shining, elliptic and glabrous; the flowers are axillary, solitary, in 
pairs or fascicled and fragrant; the corolla is white. The fruit is 
ovoid, about an inch or less long, one- or rarely two-seeded. It is 
occasionally cultivated and specimens may be seen in the Government 
Nursery, in the Hilo court yard and elsewhere. It is a native of 
India, where it is cultivated. It yields a gum known as Aladras 
gum, while the fruits are used medicinally in diseases of the gums and 
teeth. A volatile oil is distilled from the flowers, while a fixed oil 
is obtained from the seeds by compression which is used for culinary 
purposes and is also burned in lamps. It is supposed to be sacred to 
the Mohammedans of southern India. 
The Ebenaceae or Ebony family is represented by only a single 
species, belonging to the genus Diospyros, D. Ebenaster Retz, which 
produces a large, globose, edible fruit, nearly black when ripe. The 
fruit flesh is brownish. 
It is a native of Mexico and is cultivated on the Island of Oahu 
only on the windward side, below the Pali. It has been erroneously 
recorded as Diospyros decandra by G. P. Wilder. 
OLEACEAE 
Olive Family. 
Besides the species treated below, there are represented in Hawaii 
the true Olive, Olca europea L.. which rarely bears seed ; Osmanthus 
fragrans Lour., a small shrub or tree whose native home is East 
India, and Fraxinus floribunda Wall, introduced bv the writer from 
the Eastern Himalaya, where it is a large tree. Specimens have 
been planted out in upper Makiki Valley. Another species of Fiaxi- 
nus grows on Union Street, back of the Pacific Club. This latter 
Ash tree belongs to the section Fraxinaster, but as only a single male 
tree is in cultivation, the species has not been definitely determined. 
Noronhia emarginata Toir., the only species of the genus Noron- 
hia, a native of Madagascar and Timor, is cultivated in Honolulu. 
