img

Melicope adscendens

(H.St.John & E.P.Hume) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone (1989)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Sapindales Family: Rutaceae Genus: Melicope

alani, alani kuahiwi

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Sprawling shrubs, new growth densely yellowish to golden brown puberulent; branches long, slender, grayish pubescent, becoming glabrate, pubescence persistent in axils.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite, widely spaced. Blades elliptic, elliptic–ovate, or elliptic–oblong, 1.5–6.5 cm long, 1–4 cm wide. Apex rounded and emarginate or minutely mucronulate. Base emarginate to subcordate. Upper surfaces glabrous; lower surfaces minutely puberulent when young, soon glabrate; blades, coriaceous to chartaceous. Margins entire. Primary lateral veins ca. 14 pairs, venation pinnate, lateral veins connected by an arched submarginal vein, higher order venation forming a reticulate pattern. Petioles 6–16 mm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers 1–3 in slender, delicate, elongated, axillary cymes, peduncles 13–17 mm long, pedicels 4–8(–14) mm long, bracteoles ca. 1.4 mm long, puberulent, those at base of pedicels similar but less that 1 mm long. bracts small, opposite. Flowers functionally unisexual (and the plants monoecious). Calyx of 4 sepals; sepals imbricate. Corolla of 4 petals; petals deltate, valvate. Stamens 8, in 2 whorls, distinct; staminate flowers with sepals ovate, ca. 3.5 mm long, minutely puberulent, ovate, ca. 5 mm long, minutely puberulent, nectary disk minutely puberulent, ovary rudimentary, glabrous. Ovary superior, (pistillate flowers unknown), 4-celled and 4-lobed, carpels connate, only slightly distinct at apex to almost entirely distinct; ovules 2 per cell, hemitropous, 1 ascending; style 1, terminating in 4 short stigmatic branches.

Fruit: Fruit 14–15 mm wide; subtended by persistent sepals and petals; of distinct follicles 7–7.5 mm long; exocarp glabrous; with 2–3 concentric wrinkles; endocarp glabrous. the carpels dehiscing along the upper suture. Seeds 1–2 per cell; glossy black when ripe; crustaceous; ovoid; sometimes angled from compression; embryo straight in fleshy endosperm; radicle short; cotyledons compressed; ovate; putamen brown; warty.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Mesic forest.

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Endemic

Island Status

Maui Endemic

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Bibliography

Name Published In: Taxon 38: 120 (1989)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:1183 (EM [as Pelea adscendens]); Hartley & Stone 1989:120 (COMBNOV, Syn. P. adscendens = M. adscendens)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Description Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Same as No. 2088.M, but another plant a long distance away. Capsule deeply parted, nearly to the base. Forbes, C.N. 2100 Maui BISH 1920-03-24
2 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Low shrub 2-3 ft, with a tangled vine-like habit. Forbes, C.N. 2088 Maui BISH 1920-03-24
3 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Same as No. 2088.M, but another plant a long distance away. Capsule deeply parted, nearly to the base. Forbes, C.N. 2100 Maui BISH 1920-03-24
4 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Same as No. 2088.M, but another plant a long distance away. Capsule deeply parted, nearly to the base. Forbes, C.N. 2100 Maui BISH 1920-03-24
5 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details With Dodonaea. Preserved_Specimen sprawling habit Medeiros, A.C. 230 Maui BISH 1982-07-21
6 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Low shrub 2-3 ft, with a tangled vine-like habit. Forbes, C.N. 2088 Maui BISH 1920-03-24
7 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen sprawling habit Medeiros, A.C. 230 Maui BISH 1982-07-21
8 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Metrosideros forest with Myrsine lanaiensis, Ochrosia, Streblus, Nestegis sandwicensis, Lantana camera Preserved_Specimen Wood, K.R. 2748 Maui BISH 1993-09-15
9 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Sprawling on aa and other vegetation, inside fenced exclosure. Associated vegetation: Diospyros, Dodonaea, Osteomeles, Wikstroemia, Ipomoea, Pleomele, Lepisorus, Asplenium, Doryopteris, Pellaea, Plectranthus, Peperomia, Cyperus. Threats: weeds such as Lantana, Bidens, Rubus. Preserved_Specimen Single plant. Oppenheimer, H.L. 70602 Maui BISH 2006-07-05
10 Melicope adscendens Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Primary Diospyros & Pleomele open forest, dry to mesic, sadly degraded by cattle. Assoc. with Dodonaea, Styphelia, Chamaesyce celastroides var. lorifolia, Physalis. Preserved_Specimen Sprawling scandant, vine-like shrub growing in Styphelia. Vigorous in 70 sq. m area. Last plant known. Wood, K.R. 266 Maui BISH 1990-03-24
Back to Top