NOTE 
Bleekeria compta: A New Binomial for a Hawaiian 
Apocynaceous Tree 
Robert L. Wilbur 1 
The small variable tree called the holei by 
the Polynesian natives occurs in the drier por- 
tions of the Hawaiian Islands. In the scientific 
literature it has been referred to most frequently 
as Ochrosia sandwicensis, but unfortunately this 
long-used binomial cannot be maintained. Al- 
phonse DeCandolle (Prodr. 8:357, 1844) pro- 
posed the name, but his original description 
("folds obtusiusculis, bracteis basi denticulatis”) 
and the cited synonymy ( Cerbera parviflora 
sensu Hook, and Arn.) indicate that he was 
again describing Rauvolfia sandwicensis, which 
he had first published earlier in the same work 
(Prodr. 8:339, 1844). Hillebrand (Fl. Haw. Is.: 
295, 1888), Schumann (Pflanzenfam. IV, 2:153, 
156, 1895), Rock (Indigenous Trees Haw. Is.: 
409, 413, 1913), however, all recognized the 
actual identity of DeCandolle’s species and 
therefore attributed the name 0 . sandwicensis 
to Asa Gray. Gray (Proc. Am. Acad. 5:333, 
1861) misunderstood DeCandolle’s concept of 
the species, and applied the name to the holei 
and not to the hao ( Rauvolfia sandwicensis ) , as 
did DeCandolle. Gray’s usage, of course, has no 
nomenclatural validity. Hillebrand (Fl. Haw. Is.: 
297, 1888) described a little-known variant 
from the Nuuanu Valley of Oahu as the /3 
variety of Ochrosia sandwicensis A. Gray, while 
Schumann (Pflanzenfam. IV, 2: 153, 156, 1913), 
after examining Hillebrand’s specimen at Ber- 
lin, considered it a distinct species and provided 
the binomial O. compta. For those who, like 
Fosberg (in Zimmerman’s Insects of Hawaii 
1:114, 1948), recognize only one species within 
the variable Hawaiian populations and whose 
concept of Ochrosia includes those species with 
1 Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, 
North Carolina. This study was supported by the 
National Science Foundation (NSF-Grant 18799). 
Manuscript received December 24, 1964. 
a nonfibrous mesocarp, the proper binomial is 
Ochrosia compta K. Sch. 
Recent students of the Pacific flora, such as 
Koidzumi (Bot. Mag. Tokyo 37:52, 1923), 
Markgraf (Engler’s Bot. Jahrb. 61:168, 1928), 
Merrill and Perry (J. Arn. Arb. 24:213, 1943), 
and Smith (Bull. Torrey Club 70:549, 1943), 
have accepted as genera the two groups recog- 
nized by earlier workers as sections or subgenera 
of Ochrosia. The entire group sorely needs 
monographic attention, but until this needed 
task is accomplished it would seem best to fol- 
low those students whose more detailed studies 
have convinced them of the generic distinctness 
of the two groups of species. 
The Hawaiian species belongs to the group 
with nonfibrous mesocarps and with a conspicu- 
ous longitudinal cavity in the remnant of the 
partition of the fruit. It is therefore a Bleekeria. 
Koidzumi (Bot. Mag. Tokyo 37:52, 1923) first 
recognized this and provided the new com- 
bination Bleekeria sandwicensis. Koidzumi’s bi- 
nomial cannot be salvaged, under the provisions 
of Article 72 of the International Code (Reg. 
Veget. 23:52, 1961), since there is an available 
legitimate specific epithet: Ochrosia compta 
K. Sch. Therefore a new combination under 
Bleekeria is necessary. 
Bleekeria compta (K. Sch.) comb. nov. 
Ochrosia sandwicensis (3 var. Hbd., FL Haw. 
Is.: 297, 1888. 
Ochrosia compta K. Sch., Nat. Pflanzenf. IV, 
2:156,1895- 
Bleekeria sandwicensis (sensu A. Gray [non 
A.DQ) Koidz., Bot. Mag. Tokyo 37:52, 
1923. 
The type of this species was undoubtedly lost 
in the bombing of Berlin in 1943. Schumann 
based the species upon Hillebrand’s specimen 
260 
