Common Forest Trees of Hawaii (Native and Introduced)

Seagrape susceptible to attack by dry-wood termites. It takes a fine polish but is little used where native except for posts, Coccoloba uvifera (L) L furniture, and cabinetwork. Straight pieces would be suited for wood turning. Because of the similarity of Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae) names, it is sometimes confused with cocobolo (Dalber- gia retusa), an important commercial timber. Post-Cook introduction The bark contains tannin, and the astringent roots and bark have been used in medicines elsewhere. West Seagrape, a small tree planted along sandy beaches as Indian or Jamaican kino, an astringent red sap exuding an ornamental or windbreak, is easily identified by the or extracted from cut bark, formerly was in commerce rounded or kidney-shaped thick and leathery leaves, for tanning and dyeing. which are slightly broader than long, often reddish when Jelly and a winelike beverage can be prepared from young or very old, and by the drooping grapelike clus- fruits, which also are eaten raw. Bunches of fruits in 3 ters of crowded purple edible fruits about ⁄4 inch (2 cm) conelike packets formed by rolling the leaves have been long. sold on the streets in tropical America, the native home. A small introduced evergreen tree 20Ð30 ft (6Ð9 m) Early Spanish colonists sometimes used the fresh thick high and 1 ft (0.3 m) in trunk diameter, with widely leaves as a substitute for paper, scratching messages with spreading rounded crown of few coarse branches, often a pin or other sharp point. branching near base. Bark smoothish gray, thin, peeling This is one of the first woody species to become off in small flakes on large trunks, which become mottled established on sandy shores where native, being more whitish, light gray, and light brown. Inner bark light hardy in these exposed places and more tolerant of salt brown and bitter. Twigs stout spreading, green and mi- than most trees. For these reasons it is often planted as nutely hairy when young, becoming gray, with leaf an ornamental or windbreak along coasts. Since propa- sheaths and ring scars at nodes. gation is from cuttings, female plants should be selected 1 1 Leaves alternate, with short leafstalks of ⁄4Ð ⁄2 inch for fruits. Frequently grown in southern Florida, it can (6Ð13 mm) and at base a reddish brown membranous be shaped as a hedge for landscaping. It is a good honey 1 3 sheath (ocrea) ⁄4Ð ⁄8 inch (6Ð10 mm) high around twig. plant. Blades often turned on edge vertically, 3Ð6 inches (7.5Ð In Hawaii, the species is planted as an ornamental 15 cm) long and 4Ð8 inches (10Ð20 cm) wide, rounded and windbreak along sandy beaches, it escapes and be- at apex and heart-shaped at base, with margins slightly comes naturalized locally. It may be seen along most curved under, hairless or nearly so, upper surface green shorelines. A total of 955 trees have been planted in the or blue green, lower surface paler, and midvein and larger forest reserves by the Division of Forestry, mostly in veins often reddish. the Honouliuli Forest Reserve. It is doubtful that they Flower clusters (narrow racemes) terminal and lat- became established naturally so far from the shoreline. eral, 4Ð9 inches (10Ð23 cm) long have numerous small 3 whitish or greenish white fragrant flowers ⁄16 inch (5 Special area 1 1 mm) across on short stalks of ⁄16Ð ⁄8 inch (1.5Ð3 mm), Waimea Arboretum male and female on different trees (dioecious). Male flowers have greenish white basal tube (hypanthium) Range 1 ⁄16 inch (1.5 mm) long and broad bearing five spreading Shores of central and southern Florida, Bermuda, and 1 rounded white calyx lobes more than ⁄16 inch (1.5 mm) from Bahamas through West Indies including Puerto long; eight stamens united at base; and rudimentary pis- Rico and Virgin Islands. Also, Atlantic Coast from north- til. Female flowers have small stamens and larger pistil ern Mexico south to Venezuela and Guianas. with one-celled ovary and three styles. Fruits elliptical or egg-shaped, with thin fleshy cov- Other common names ering (hypanthium) and with calyx at apex, sour or sweet- uva de playa, uva de mar, uvero (Puerto Rico, Spanish); 3 ish, enclosing one elliptical seed (achene) ⁄8 inch (10 grape (Virgin Islands) mm) long. Flowering and fruiting through the year. Sapwood light brown and heartwood reddish brown. Wood hard, moderately heavy (sp. gr. 0.7), and very

This information is from Agriculture Handbook no. 679 by Elbert L. Little Jr. and Roger G. Skolmen, published by the Forest Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, in 1989. Its present format is that of a reprint version published by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. Common Forest Trees of Hawaii (Native and Introduced)

Seagrape Coccoloba uvifera (L) L 2 Fruits (left), twig with male flowers, ⁄3 X (P.R. v. 1).

This information is from Agriculture Handbook no. 679 by Elbert L. Little Jr. and Roger G. Skolmen, published by the Forest Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, in 1989. Its present format is that of a reprint version published by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003.