Botanical Novelties — St, John 
173 
of upper Kanaha Valley. At the site which he 
knew, there was now no sign of a tree, it 
having died and the soft stems having rotted 
away since the guide’s last visit to the spot. 
Without doubt it is now extinct on Niihau. 
The record is a credible one, as the tree once, 
and to some degree still, makes a scattered 
arborescent growth on the low, very dry sec- 
tions of all of the Hawaiian Islands. In the 
revision of the genus by Sherlf (1952: 7), he 
states, ”I have seen as yet no specimens from 
Kauai, Niihau, or Kahoolawe.” 
SOLANACEAE 
Solanum Nelsoni Dunal var. Nelsoni 
S. Neisom 'Dunal in DC., Prodr. 13: 123, 1852. 
S. laysanense Bitter, Nat. Ver. Bremen, Abh. 
16(3): 432-435, pi. 4, fig. A-D, 1900. 
5. nelsoniDunal var. typicum F. Br., in Christo- 
persen & Caum, Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 
Bui. 81: 35, 1931. 
S. nelsoni Dunal var. intermedhwi F. Br., 1. c. 
35-36. 
5. nelsoni Dunal var. caumii F. Br., 1. c. 36. 
5. nelsoni Dunal var. acu7ninatum F. Br., 1. c. 
36. 
NOM. VERN.: "akia.” 
Niihau, south end, sand country; also cliff 
at, November 1, 1939, C. C. Mtmro; Kawae- 
wae, under Prosopis thicket, 75 ft. alt., Sl 
J ohn 22J51; Feahi, in coral sand near beach, 
10 ft. alt., St. John 23,621. 
Two isotypes of S. laysanense as well as the 
holotypes and the paratypes of the varieties of 
S. Nelsoni described by Dr. F. B. H. Brown 
and all the specimens in the Bishop Museum 
have been studied. The shrubs are all similar; 
the flowers are identical; the fruits essentially 
so, though the collectors recorded a few as 
with red berries, while the majority recorded 
black berries. The berries recorded as red 
when fresh are now black when dried. There 
is some apparent variation in the size of the 
berries, but as they were juicy, then were 
pressed, the variation does not seem signifi- 
cant. The seeds are identical. The leaves vary 
in shape from cordate to orbicular, ovate, or 
elliptic; the base from cordate to rounded, 
truncate, or cuneate; the apex from obtuse to 
acute; the margin from entire to slightly or 
markedly sinuate. The measurements of the 
hairs meet or overlap, and the leaf shapes are 
variable and difficult to define. Upon these 
characters the species and varieties listed have 
been described. The larger the leaves, the 
more apt they are to be acute at apex and 
with sinuate margins. An isotypic sheet of 
S. laysanense shows some blades subcordate at 
base, as well as ones rounded or cuneate. The 
holotype of S. Nelsoni var. acuminattm, Caum 
68 from Nihoa I., has most of the blades 
sinuate, a key character, but several adult 
leaves on the same branch are entire. The 
same is true on an isotype, while on a second 
isotypic sheet, most of the blades are entire, 
while only a few show a slight waviness in 
the margin. The holotypes and isotypes of 
var. Caumii and var. intermedium are relatively 
constant to the characters alleged. S. Nelsoni, 
as shown by a photo of the holotype, David 
Nelson, from the Sandwich Islands, and by 
the several recent collections from Molokai, 
is relatively constant in its cordate, entire 
blades, but one sheet of several collected by 
Rock, March 1910, from Momomi ( = Moo- 
momi) beach, Molokai, shows both leaves 
with cordate bases and ones with rounded 
bases on the same stem. S. Nelsoni var. inter- 
medium was keyed as having the leaves cordate 
to subacute at the base, and the several speci- 
mens show stems with leaves that are cordate, 
rounded, or subcuneate at base. 
At hand are two unmounted collections 
with numerous duplicates. These would be 
classified as S. Nelsoni or its var. typica. St. John 
19,962 from Moomomi, Molokai, consists of 
22 separate plants or branches. Mostly these 
show small, cordate, entire blades, but four 
bear also some leaves that are shallowly sinu- 
ate. St. John 22J31 from Kawaewae, Niihau, 
consists of numerous sheets with a total of 
50 branches. These all have the leaves cordate 
or ovate-cordate, obtuse or subacute, and 
