Page:Radlkofer and Rock - New and Noteworthy Hawaiian Plants.djvu/12

 lulu, who called my attention to its presence on Mauna Loa, The type material (No 8772) was collected when in company with Mr. W. M. Giffard on the eastern slopes of Mauna Loa, at an elevation of 4500 feet, in April, 1911. It is a remarkable tree attaining a height of about 80 ft. with trunks of more than four feet in diameter; it is plentiful in Kipuka Ki and Puaulu on the land of Keauhou about 6-8 miles from the Kilauea Volcano where it grows in company with Pelea, Ochrosia, Straussia, Zanthoxylum, etc. One would not suspect to find such trees in that locality as one travels for miles through Ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha) forest until all at once one strikes a grove of this remarkable tree which is called A'e by the natives on Mauna Loa, and Manele on Hualalai, North Kona. Unquestionably this tree must have extended farther down the mountain where the Ohia now grows, but was undoubtedly destroyed by the a-a (rough) lava flows from the flanks of the mountain. The few hundred acres on which this tree is found escaped the firy stream by their elevation, as no lava is visible, the soil being black and rich. The tree seems to be deciduous, as I have observed specimens with the leaves all yellow and dropping, while others had young leaves only, but I have not met with any having the branches entirely bare.

On a subsequent visit (July-August, 1911,) specimens with flower-buds were collected but being badly attacked by a species of caterpillar it was impossible to make out the structure of the flowers.

The writer waited several weeks for the flowers to unfold, but instead the whole inflorescenses began to wilt on every tree examined, due to the work of the caterpillar.

Hibiscadelphus Rock gen. nov.

Bracteolae 5-7, angustissimae lineares, liberae; calyx profunde et inaequaliter 2-3-fidus; columna staminea infra apicem 5-dentatum antherifera; ovarium 5-loculare, loculis 1-3 ovulatis; styli rami 5, suberecti, apice in stigmata capitata dilatati; capsula lignea loculide 5-valvis, endocarpio chartaceo solubili; semina reniformia, tomento albescenti-cano induta. Arbores mediocres cum tomento stellate; folia cordata, inaequaliter crenata; flores soli-