"Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands" — S t. John 
145 
39. Aalii. Dodonaea viscosa Linn. Dodonaea s.p 
From the plate and the description, it is not possible to determine the plant to the species. However, it 
may well represent D. eriocarpa Sm. var. obtusior Sherff, which occurs on both Kauai and Niihau. She reported 
that it "is mostly found in the dry districts of the islands, . . 
42, Puapilo. Capparis sandwichiana DC. Capparis sandwichiana DC. 
She reported that it "is found on the lowlands upon broken rocky ground . . . and ... on perpendicular 
cliffs, . . ." 
DISCUSSION 
Eliminating the one introduced ornamental 
and the seven species of aboriginal introduc- 
tion and cultivation, there remain 37 indig- 
enous Hawaiian plants described and illus- 
trated in color in Mrs. Sinclair’s book. Of 
these 37 there are 23 species unknown to 
Niihau but certainly natives of Kauai. The 
remaining 15 species occur as natives on both 
Kauai and Niihau. These 15 are all abundant 
in the lowlands and occur near the old Sin- 
clair homestead at Kiekie on Niihau. Though 
they could have been obtained on Kauai, it 
seems probable that all or most of these 15 
were gathered, painted, and studied by Mrs. 
Sinclair during her long residence at the re- 
mote family home on Niihau. 
In 1950 the writer searched at Kew for 
records of the Sinclair collection from the 
Hawaiian Islands. A record was found that 
the specimens were received in January, 1885. 
In the file of collector’s lists, there were rec- 
ords of the Sinclair plants. There was a reprint 
of the published table of contents from the 
book, with the numbers and vernacular names 
as printed but lacking the scientific names. 
There was also a handwritten list of determi- 
nations of 49 plants which omitted the verna- 
cular names of 12 that were included in the 
book. This list included six additional plants 
not in the published book, as follows: 
Pittosporum confertiflorum A. Gray. Haolau- 
nui. This specimen was studied by Sherff and 
cited in his monograph as var. Mannii Sherff 
(1942: 557) and as coming from the locality 
Kaolaunui on the island of Hawaii. There is 
no such named and recorded locality on Ha- 
waii or Kauai. Because of its placement at the 
end of the line, just as the vernacular name 
"'alahei” is at the end of the Plectronia odorata 
line, this word, "haolaunui,” should be a 
Hawaiian vernacular plant name. None such 
has been recorded as yet, but the tree Rativolfia 
sandwicensis is called "hao,” "lau” means leaf, 
and "nui” means large; therefore, this would 
be the "large-leaved hao.” Because of the 
known source of her plant specimens, Mrs, 
Sinclair doubtless collected this one too on 
Kauai or Niihau, probably on Kauai. 
Pittosporum glahrum H. & A. Haolaunui. 
This specimen was determined and cited by 
Sherff (1942: 484) as P. acuminatum Mann 
or, as it now would be called, P. acuminatum 
Mann var. acuminatum. This variety was 
known only from Kauai, and Sherff cites the 
specimen as "Haolanlii (Kauai? — I cannot 
find this locality on maps; ...” Again, this 
is obviously a Hawaiian vernacular name — 
the "hao with large leaves.” In this case he 
was doubtless correct in attributing the spec- 
imen to Kauai. 
Sida fallax^ 2 Xp. Hawaii [Islands]. 
Rutacea? (Leafy fragment). Puajulo. This 
vernacular name is unknown today. The frag- 
ment is not known to have been identified. 
Sesbania grandiflora Poir. var.? Hawaii [Is- 
lands]. This ornamental is widely cultivated 
in the Islands. 
Plectronia odoratum H, & A. Alahei. This is 
now classed as Canthium odoratum (Forst.) 
Seem., and its well-known Hawaiian verna- 
cular names are now written "walahee” and 
"alahee.” 
It is obvious that Mrs. Sinclair had no good 
paintings of these five species. Hence, they 
were not included in her book. They are dis- 
cussed here in order to establish their origin 
from the island of Kauai or Niihau, not from 
