A Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Neraudia (Urticaceae) 
Richard S. Cowan 1 
INTRODUCTION 
The genus Neraudia is in the family Urticaceae 
and is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is 
found from about 1,600 to 4,000 feet altitude 
but is seldom represented by more than a few 
plants in any locality. The lack of a large volume 
of material, the difficulty of collecting plants of 
the genus (both conditions resulting from its 
rarity), and some nomenclatorial confusion have 
contributed to the lack of understanding of the 
group. Even now, after the collections and obser- 
vations of the past 2 years, it is felt that several 
more years of collection and observation are 
necessary to furnish sufficient material for evalu- 
ating more clearly some of the taxonomic en- 
tities included below. Even on the island of 
Oahu, which has been the most widely explored 
botanically of any of the Hawaiian Islands, more 
study of this genus is needed. 
Acknowledgments: Dr. Harold St. John, 
Chairman of the Department of Botany, Uni- 
versity of Hawaii, suggested this genus as one in 
need of study and possible revision. He has 
directed my work and I wish to express my grati- 
tude for his aid and guidance. I also wish to 
acknowledge the kindness of Marie C. Neal, 
Curator of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum Her- 
barium ( Ho 2 ) , inasmuch as the following work 
could not have been accomplished had it not 
been for the material borrowed from the her- 
barium. I am likewise grateful to Otto Degener 
of Honolulu for the loan of his collection of 
1 Graduate assistant, Department of Botany, Univer- 
sity of Hawaii. Manuscript received July 20, 1948. 
2 The standard symbols proposed by J. Lanjouw 
(1939—1941) for each herbarium are shown after 
the name of each institution and these are used in 
the lists of collections examined to indicate where 
each collection is deposited. 
this genus. To the Royal Botanical Garden, 
Kew, England (K) ; the Herbarium of the Uni- 
versity of California (UC); Gray Herbarium, 
Harvard University (GH) ; New York Botanical 
Garden (NY); Museum National d’Histoire 
Naturelle de Paris (P); Conservatoire et Jardin 
Botanique, Geneva (G), I wish to express my 
appreciation for the loan of material of earlier 
collectors. Finally, to the friends and associates, 
particularly K. Sakimura of the Pineapple Re- 
search Institute of Hawaii, who have searched 
and collected as intently as I, I express my grati- 
tude. I am particularly indebted to Florence 
(Mekeel) Lambeth for making the fine draw- 
ings for this paper. Her keen sense of propor- 
tion and attention to detail, her unreserved spirit 
of cooperation, and her ability to make herbar- 
ium specimens appear as fresh material have 
been an important contribution. 
HISTORY OF THE GENUS 
The genus Neraudia was published by Gau- 
dichaud on March 6, 1830, in the botanical ac- 
count of his first trip around the world on the 
"Uranie.” He named the genus in honor of M. 
Neraud, a French lawyer and amateur botanist of 
Madagascar with whom he became acquainted 
during his visit to that island. Gaudichaud de- 
scribed and illustrated Neraudia melastomae folia 
and described Neraudia ovata on the basis of ma- 
terial which he collected in the "Sandwich Is- 
lands.” In 1831 he published a plate illustrating 
a third species, Neraudia sericea, without de- 
scription, the material for the plate having been 
collected by Gaudichaud on his second trip, this 
time on the "La Bonite” voyage. The plate, in 
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