172 
mm. long; the leaflets when dried, thinnish, 
obsoletely to sharply 1-9-denticulate, and the 
lateral ones 28-63 mm. wide, and the terminal 
ones 44-75 mm. wide. P. ovatum H. & A. has, 
on the other hand, the petioles 7.5-11 cm. 
long; the lateral petiolules 22-30 mm. long; 
the terminal petiolules 26-38 mm. long; the 
leaflets when dried, thick chartaceous to sub- 
coriaceous, entire, the lateral ones 50-60 mm. 
wide; and the terminal ones 55-65 mm. wide. 
This is the third species that was described in 
the group that is now called Cheirodendron. 
The type specimen is well preserved and is 
available in the Kew herbarium. The writer 
studied it there in 1954. The accompanying 
drawing shows a leaf from this holotype. It is 
not clear why Sherff did not examine it, as it 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XIII, April, 1959 
is available at Kew, and he studied and cited 
other specimens from the Kew herbarium. 
It is possible that P. ovatum H. & A. is a 
species endemic to the island of Niihau, but 
there seems no chance of establishing that 
now, as the native forest has vanished and 
this species has not been found there by any 
of the recent collectors. The island of Kauai 
is nearest to Niihau, being only 9 miles 
distant. There are, according to Sherff, four 
species and six varieties of Cheirodendron on 
Kauai. None of them has foliage matching 
that of the Niihau tree. The next closest 
island, Oahu, is about 120 miles away. 
Though all described taxa have been checked, 
it seems that it is most like a variety that oc- 
curs on both mountain ranges of Oahu, C. 
trig^num var. Hillehrandii Sherff. This variety 
usually has the leaflets serrate and elliptic or 
elliptic-lanceolate to elliptic-ovate. However, 
there are some collections of it with entire 
and broader leaflets, ovate, entire, abruptly 
obtuse, and with long petiolules. These ex- 
actly match the holotype of Pd ovatum H. & 
A. When and if fertile material of the Niihau 
plant is found, the taxonomic placement can 
be reviewed. Till then the best placement 
seems to be as a synonym of C. trig^num 
(Gaud.) Heller var. Hillehrandii Sherff. 
Reynoldsia sandwicensis Gray 
NOM. VERN.: "’ohe’ohe.” 
The only record of this is in the publication 
by C. N. Forbes (1913: 23) on the collection 
by J. F. G. Stokes. The species is listed with- 
out comment. The specimen is not now in 
the Bishop Museum nor does it appear in the 
card catalogue of the herbarium as ever hav- 
ing been inserted there. When exploring 
Niihau in 1947 the writer did not see the tree. 
It was one of the four native trees reported 
by Forbes, so its rediscovery was much de- 
sired. When asked, the guide K. Niau im- 
mediately replied that he knew the ' ' ’ohe’ohe, ’ ’ 
that it was now very rare. He said there was 
only one living tree left, and he then led the 
way on August 13th to a spot on a steep side 
