416 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XVII, October 1963 
20—25 mm broad and 10 mm high, quadrate or 
slightly lobed ( less than or barely halfway ) , the 
exocarp glabrous, punctate, mostly dark green or 
tinged with dull reddish-purple; endocarp pale 
and glabrous; seeds mostly 2 per cell; carpels 
after dehiscence reflexed in age, the axis per- 
sistent only at the extreme base. 
TYPE: Oahu: Koolau Range, Kalihi, October 
1909, Faurie 189 (Edinburgh; isotype at Paris). 
DISTRIBUTION: Restricted to Oahu; found on 
both the Waianae and Koolau mountain ranges. 
This common Oahu species has been misin- 
terpreted since it was first described. This is not 
surprising, however, since the confusion involved 
with the identity of the true Pelea sandwicensis 
(H. & A.) Gray had obscured the concept 
greatly, and since Leveille himself did nothing 
to clarify the species, and presumably did not 
realize that the other "species” so briefly and 
inadequately described by him were either the 
same or mixtures (the type specimens often 
being composed of branchlets clearly from two 
or three different species). In addition, some 
rather clearly defined varieties of the species 
occur in particular areas of Oahu, and some of 
these have been described as distinct species. 
Dozens of collections from various localities both 
in the eastern and western mountain ranges are 
known. A few representative specimens are cited 
here; full citation of specimens will be presented 
in the forthcoming monographic treatment. 
SPECIMENS EXAMINED: Oahu: Koolau Range: 
Pupukea, January 192 7, MacDaniels 547 
(Bishop); February 1928, Degen er & Shear 
8580 (NY, Catholic, US). Kalihi, October 1909, 
Faurie 1 90 ( bm ) . Konahuanui, Famie 194 ( bm, 
isolectotype of Pelea singuliflora ) . Manoa-Pauoa 
hills, April 1861, Hillebrand 251 (Kew). Nuu- 
anu, May 1861, Hillebrand 238 (Kew). Nuuanu- 
Kalihi ridge, August 1922, Skottsberg 173 
(Goth, Kew); Niu, Hillebrand 1797 (US, isotype 
of Pelea molokaiensis (3 var. Hbd. ) . Waianae 
Mountains: Puu Kaala, Mann & Brigham 600 
(Cornell, Kew). Makaha Valley, Feb. 1909, 
Forbes (Bishop). Puu Kanehoa, May I960, 
Stone 3268 (Bishop, Goth, Kew, Leiden, us). 
Without locality: Mann & Brigham 208, in part 
(Cornell). Remy 621 (Paris, 3 sheets). 
(a) var. peduncularis 
Fig. 3 
Found mostly along the southern stretches of 
the Koolau Range, from Punaluu down through 
Waialae and Niu valleys. The typical variety, 
easily confused with Pelea oahuensis Levi, and 
sometimes with Pelea Wawraeana Rock, but 
differing in many respects from both; from the 
former in the larger and flatter capsules, the 
more ample and stouter cymes, and generally 
larger vegetative parts, and the larger reddish 
(not yellowish) flowers; and from the latter in 
the larger capsules with glabrous endocarp, and 
mostly glabrous petioles and branchlets as well 
as cymes. 
(b) var. niuensis (St. John) B. C. Stone, comb, 
nov. 
Pelea niuensis St. John in Lloydia 7:272, 
1944. 
Branchlets glabrate; petioles glabrate; blades 
narrowly elliptic or oblong-elliptic, glabrous, 
6-12 cm long and 2-5 cm broad; inflorescences 
commonly 7-9-flower ed, glabrous; capsules 
nearly quadrate when fresh, slightly lobate when 
dry, 21-25 mm broad and about half as high, 
glabrous; endocarp glabrous. 
KEY TO VARIETIES OF Pelea peduncularis 
1. Capsules slightly lobed (up to halfway), green, usually dull, sometimes reddish; blades 
elliptic to elliptico-oblong. 
2. Leaves opposite. 
3. Blades very narrowly oblong-elliptic var. niuensis 
3. Blades elliptic to broadly oblong-elliptic. 
4. Cymes mostly 7-21 -flowered var. peduncularis 
4. Cymes mostly 3-7-flowered. . var. pauciflora 
2. Leaves whorled in fours - var. paloloensis 
1. Capsules unlobed, quadrate, dark glossy green. var. quadrata 
