Alectryon — St. JOHN and FREDERICK 
301 
single 1 -celled fruit. This seems very like A. Ma- 
hoe of Oahu, but until more complete material 
is available, it seems unwise to assign it defi- 
nitely to a species. 
Radlkofer in his monograph of the genus 
( 1933: 983 ) states that the flowers of the genus 
are falsely polygamous, that is, are male or 
female, often in the same inflorescence, and 
that they are falsely stated to be in part perfect. 
A. Mahoe has numerous examples of trees with 
all perfect flowers, and one example with all 
staminate flowers, so the generic description 
should now be altered to allow male, female, or 
perfect flowers. 
A summary of the synonymy of the only other 
Hawaiian species is as follows: 
Alectryon macrococcus Radik., K. Bayer. Akad. 
Wiss., Math.-Phys. Kl., Sitzber. 20(1): 255, 
1890 (as to Molokai plant); Mahoe ? sp., 
Hillebrand, FI. Haw. Is. 86-87, 1888 (as to 
Molokai plant); A. macrococcus Radik., 
Radik. & Rock, Hawaii Bd. Commrs. Agr. 
and Forestry, Div. Forestry, Bot. Bui. 1: 3-4, 
pi. 1, 1911 (as to Molokai and Maui plants, 
the plate being of the Maui plant); Rock, 
Hawaii Bd. Commrs. Agr. and Forestry, Rept. 
for 1910: 81, pi. 19, 1911; Rock, Ind. Trees 
Haw. Is. 277-278, pi. 107-108, 1913 (as to 
Molokai and Maui plants); Radlkofer, in 
Engler, Pflanzenreich IV, 165(5): 987-988, 
1933 (as to Molokai and Maui plants); 
Degener, FI. Haw., fam. 210, text 5/5/37 
(as to Molokai and Maui plants; not as to 
the Oahu plants or the figure based on a 
plant from Oahu). Dodonaea sp., Drake del 
Castillo, 111. FI. Ins. Mar. Pacif. 6: 144, 1890, 
in notes under Dodonaea viscosa , which is 
his disposition of Mahoe of Hbd. 
The generic name was first published in 1788 
by Gaertner, with the single species Alectryon 
excelsum , thus indicating that he considered the 
name to be neuter. Other authors accepted 
this gender until it was changed to masculine 
by the monographer Radlkofer (1890: 256). 
Our present International Rules (Amsterdam) 
validate this treatment, the choice and adoption 
of one of the two classic genders, under Art. 
G72 (1). The Greek word, alectruon, cock, or 
hen, is masculine or feminine. Gaertner said 
the fruit was compressed above like a comb — 
that is, a cock’s comb. Hence, Radlkofer, using 
this indication, adopted the genus as a mas- 
culine one, changed the older specific names to 
masculine, and made all his new specific names 
masculine. This discussion of the gender is in- 
cluded as various contemporary botanists still 
retain the generic name as a neuter one. 
REFERENCES 
Hosaka, Edward Y. 1937. Ecological and 
floristic studies in Kipapa Gulch, Oahu. 
Bernice P. Bishop Mus., Occas. Papers 
13(17): 175-232, figs. 1-18. 
Radlkofer, L. 1890. Ueber die Gliederung der 
Familie der Sapindaceen. K. Bayer. Akad. 
Wiss., Math.-Phys. Kl., Sitzber. 20(1): 105— 
379. 
1933. Sapindaceae, in Engler, A., Das 
Pflanzenreich IV, 165: 1-1002. Wilhelm 
Engelmann, Leipzig, 1931-1934. [Part 5, 
containing the genus Alectryon, is dated 
1933.] 
