Eugenia in Hawaii — Wilson 
177 
Tree 2.5-3 m. high; branches greyish- 
brown, glabrate, in age the bark smooth 
yellowish-red; leaf scars 1—1.5 mm. wide, 
rounded shield-shaped, reddish-brown; leafy 
branchlets 0.5-1. 5 mm. in diameter distinctly 
4-angled to terete, densely brown subap- 
pressed-pilosulous; internodes 7-24 mm. 
long; leaves 2. 0-3.0 cm. long, 1.4-2. 0 cm. 
wide, suborbicular, elliptic or obovate; apex 
obtuse or apiculate, rarely retuse, base sub- 
cuneate; blade coriaceous, concave, margin 
entire, strongly revolute, above olive-green, 
minutely pustulate, densely subappressed- 
pilosulous when young, becoming glabrous 
and shiny in age, below pale yellowish-green, 
minutely glandular-punctate, densely sub- 
appressed-puberulent; midrib shallowly im- 
pressed above, elevated below, primary lateral 
veins alternate or opposite, 5-7 on a side, 4-9 
mm. apart, irregularly ascending at 140-150°, 
meeting in an irregularly lobed intramarginal 
vein 1.0-1. 5 mm. from leaf margin, raised on 
both surfaces but more distinct below, the 
veinlets less conspicuous, raised-reticulate; 
petioles 1-3 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, densely 
brown subappressed-pilosulous; flowers sin- 
gle, in the axils of bracts; the bracts subulate, 
densely brown subappressed-pilosulous, 1-1.5 
mm. long, 1 mm. wide, peduncles 5-7 mm. 
long, 0.5 mm. wide, subappressed-pilosulous; 
calyx tube 2-3 mm. long, 3-4 mm. across, 
subappressed-pilosulous, subtended by two 
persistent subulate, brown, subappressed- 
pilosulous bracts; the bracts 1. 5-2.0 mm. 
long; calyx lobes 4, ovate, green, fleshy, per- 
sistent, of unequal length, 1 opposite pair 
2 mm. long, 2 mm. wide, the other pair 3 mm. 
long, 2 mm. wide; petals 4, white, inserted on 
margin of annular disk, ovate or obovate, 4 
mm. long, 3 mm. wide, membranaceous, 
ciliate, apex obtuse, base truncate, sparsely 
puberulous, minutely glandular-punctate; sta- 
mens numerous (about 150); filaments white, 
0. 5-2.0 mm. long, slender, subulate, glab- 
rous; anthers white, orbicular-ovate, 0.2-0. 5 
mm. long; style terete, subulate, 2.5 mm. 
long, densely puberulent at base, glabrous 
above; stigma peltate; fruit ovoid, symme- 
trical, 8 mm. in diameter (when dry), densely 
appressed-pilosulous, red, conspicously yel- 
low glandular-punctate, crowned by the per- 
sistent lobes of the calyx. 
Type: Hawaiian Islands, Molokai: Mauna- 
loa; June 1918, J. F. Rock 17,144, in the 
Bernice P. Bishop Museum Herbarium. 
Common name: "Nioi.” 
DISTRIBUTION: Known only from the type 
locality, Maunaloa, Molokai, and now prob- 
ably extinct. 
Specimens examined: 
Molokai: Maunaloa: April 1918, Rock 
17,144; June 1918, Rock 17,144; Feb. 1920, 
Rock 17,144B (BISH, GH). 
Eugenia molokaiana is known only from the 
collections made by Rock at Maunaloa, Mo- 
lokai. When the locality was first visited in 
1918, Rock photographed the tree which was 
then already dying (Fig. 2). Since 1920 there 
has not been a single subsequent collection 
of this species. In 1953 Rock was fortunate in 
being able to revisit Maunaloa, Molokai, in 
search of this tree. Unfortunately there is no 
longer any trace of its existence. E. molokaiana 
has disappeared, like many other trees from 
that locality. 
If ever it should be found, E. molokaiana 
may be easily recognized by its small red 
fruits, its peltate stigma, and its small, con- 
cave, pubescent leaves. 
The description of the flower is based on a 
bud just before anthesis. Unfortunately no 
open flowers have been seen. The nature of 
the embryo and seed are not known since it 
did not seem advisable to dissect the single 
fruit which was available. 
Miss Marie C. Neal informs us that the 
nioi growing on Maunaloa, Molokai, was one 
of three trees of that region which played an 
important role in Hawaiian traditions. Ac- 
cording to the notes in the Bishop Museum 
on the native Hawaiian names of plants, the 
nioi from Maunaloa, Molokai, was identified 
as "the tree form of a god, Kane-ikaulana 
ula.” The tree was used for making images 
