apple Mammee apple, formally Discovering The Story of a Tree known as kamani, at HoMA, & before cutting Salvaging its Wood Craig Swedberg with slabs of the Mammee apple There are times when a tree outgrows the space it has available or for some other reason must be cut down. This was the situation in the Central Courtyard at Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) when it became necessary to take out a venerable, much loved kamani. And, it turns out this tree was a mystery. Sawmill owner and tree sleuth Bart Potter, among others, found something odd about its identification as the tree we know as kamani, Calophyllum inophyllum. The leaves and blossoms looked similar, but the trunk form and bark were significantly different. Once the tree was down, it was further evident that the wood was not the same as our kamani, and there are about 270 other species in the Genus Calophyllum worldwide. The search was on. Research into records of Hawai‘i tree plantings of the Calophyllum genus from the 19th and 20th centuries showed a few likely suspects, including representatives from Fiji and New Guinea, but was not conclusive. Lucas portable saw mill in the Central Courtyard at HoMA. Kendall Tree Services, hired by HoMA to take down the Mammee apple, allowed Bart and Carig to mill the wood on site. DOA Mammee apple tree on the C&C of Honolulu Exceptinal Tree Register Then, one morning walking his dog in the yard of the Hawai‘i State Department of Agriculture (DOA) along Ke‘eaumoku between King and Young Streets, Bart felt a tree reach out and hit him like a 2x4. It is, in his opinion, an identical sister tree of the HoMA “kamani”. It’s identified as on the City and County of Honolulu Exceptional Tree Register, and thus has a SIGN on it! It’s a Mammea americana, or Mammee apple. The genera Mammea and Calophyllum are in the same Family, Calophyllaceae. Hence the resemblance of the Mammee to the Kamani. Because of their near identical size and stature, it’s quite possible the DOA tree and the HoMA tree were planted with seed from a common tree at the same time. The first M. americana was introduced to Hawai‘i in 1816 by Captain Alexander Adams who served the king and was rewarded for his service in many ways, including 200 acres in Kalihi renowned for the diversity of trees he established there, including mammee apple. More information about these plantings is in the records of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society from the 19th century. Back to today. The newly identified Mammee apple was cut down and milled on site. Bart ended up with a 42” section from the top of the trunk, freehand cut lengthwise, end-sealed, and now stored under cover in his drying shed. Mammee apple tree Craig Swedberg slab-milled the remaining 10 foot plus log of the main trunk and at DOA took that wood for seasoning. Andy Cole was able to salvage wood for Honolulu Considering the bark on the HoMA Central Courtyard tree Woodturners. Both sawyers have observed “collapse” of the grain in drying as is characteristic of More history embedded in the tree. dense woods with a high water content, such as ‘ōhia and Eucalyptus robusta. As Foreign objects embedded in urban trees are the mammee wood continues to dry and movement within the wood settles down, the bane of wood millers and end users. In the it will be assessed for possible uses. case of this HoMA tree, artifacts of past needs to post signs or hang lights and other things Keep your eyes tuned for seeing this lovely wood come to life in objects to be used included various nails, hardened screws and metal clad electrical conduit. and cherished for years to come. There are reportedly male, female and asexual manifestations of M. americana, offering an explanation for the reported lack of fruit on the tree at HoMA and abundant fruit on the comparable tree at DOA. Mammee apple is sometimes confused with mammee sapote, though the confusion arises from the similarity between names more than similarity between Mammee leaves Photo: Wikipedia Commons Mammee flowers Photo: Smithsonian Mammee fruit at DOA https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ Institute, http://biogeodg.stri.si.edu/ the fruits. commons/f/fb/Mammea americana leaves.jpg bioinformatics/dfmfiles/files/c/30107/30105.jpg Photos: Courtesy of Bart Potter unless otherwise noted.