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Mezoneuron kauaiense

(H.Mann) Hillebr. (1888)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Genus: Mezoneuron

kāwa‘u (Maui), kea (Maui), uhiuhi

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs or trees 4–10 m tall.

Stems: Stems without prickles, bark dark gray, thick, rough and checked into rectangular or oblong plates. mature plans with a trunk diameter of 3 dm or more.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves compound. Alternate. Leaves with 1–5 pairs of pinnae, leaflets 4–8 pairs per pinna, subopposite; Leaflets oblong, 2–5 cm long, (0.8–)1–2 cm wide. Apex subtruncate and usually emarginate. Base oblique, rounded. Lower surfaces and midrib rusty-tomentose. Petiolate. Stipules small, wart-like, subulate, ca. 2 mm long.

Flowers: Flowers in terminal racemes 5–15 cm long, the main axis rusty tomentose, pedicels 2.5–4 cm long, jointed in upper part bracts caducous. Flowers caesalpinaceous. Flowers apparently bisexual (perfect), up to 20 mm in diameter, bracteoles absent. Calyx pink to rose, glabrous, the upper and lateral lobes oblong, 10–13 mm long, the lower one concave, 16–18 mm long. Calyx tube short, 5-lobed, hood-like. Petals rose, becoming red toward the margins, the upper one obcordate, 6–8 mm long, the lower 2 obovate, If 12 mm long; stamens exserted. petals 5. Stamens exserted; filaments reddish pubescent in lower part; anthers red. Stamens 10, distinct, alternately longer and shorter. Ovary superior; ovules 3–5; style glabrous, incurved.

Fruit: Pods indehiscent; strongly flattened; obovate–oblong; 9–13 cm long; 4.5–6 cm wide; glaucous; with a longitudinal wing 0.9–1.3 cm wide near the upper margin. Seeds 2–4; pale brown; transversely arranged; ovoid; flattened; 1.8–2 cm long; 1.4–1.6 cm wide.

Ploidy: 2n = 22*

Habitat: Occurring in dry forest or mesic forest.

Elevation Range: 80–920 m.

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

  • Extremely hard wood used to make weapons (Abbott 1992:110–1110), ‘o‘o or digging stick (Krauss 1993:25), house posts (Kamakau 1976:96; Krauss 1993:56), kapa beaters (Kamakau 1976:109: Krauss 1993:63), la‘au kahi wauke or a board for scraping wauke to make kapa (Krauss 1993:610); sled runners (for holoa) (Culliney and Koebele199:136). Also for fish hooks (Kamakau 1976:77; Krauss 1993:43); octopus or fish spears (Kamakau 1976:70: Krauss 1993:34,45). In the Ethnology Collection at Bishop Museum there is a post-contact example of the wood made into a bowl.

  • To purify the blood, combine and mash young leaves and leaf buds and bark of uhiuhi, along with the inner bark of hāpu‘u (Cibotium spp.), okolehao (usually of ki, Cordyline fruticosa), ‘ulu bark (Artocarpus altilis), ‘uhaloa tap roots (Waltheria indica) and sections of kōkea (white sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum). Strain mixture through ‘ahu‘awa (Cyperus javanicus) and drink three times a day (Chun 1994:249–250).

  • O'o - agricultural tool

  • Shark hook

  • Sled runner

PROPAGATION/CULTIVATION

  • Difficult. Greenish/khaki colored seeds sprout fastest; scarify, seedlings grow quickly, don't keep in pot for long or roots become potbound; repot in high cinder content for good drainage; responds well to fertilizer; plant out early; do not overwater (Culliney and Koebele 1999:136–139).

Natural History

Statewide Status

Endemic

Island Status

Kaua'i Endemic
O'ahu Endemic
Lana'i Extirpated
Maui Endemic
Hawai'i Endemic

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Bibliography

Name Published In: Fl. Hawaiian Isl.: 110 (1888)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:647 (K, O, WM, H [as Caesalpinia kavaiensis]); Wagner, Herbst, et al. 1999:648 (L); Bruneau et al. 2008:711/Wagner et al. 2012:37 (Syn. C. kavaiensis = M. kavaiense); Faccenda, Arthur, et al. 2025:182 (elaboration on addition of L record, spelling change to kauaiensis); Ken Wood pers. comm. 2025 (K†, 2020); PEPP 2025/Joel Lau pers. comm. 2025 (L†, 1990); PEPP 2025/Bishop s.n. BISH 55690 (M†, 1880)

Laau Hawaii (Abbott) p.12

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Description Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Judd Jr., A.F. Oahu BISH 1934-02-01
2 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Bishop, E. Maui BISH
3 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Russ, G.W. Hawaii BISH 1928-05-01
4 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Kauai BISH
5 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 456 Hawaii BISH 1911-08-01
6 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. 12591 Hawaii BISH 1915-08-01
7 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. 3804 Hawaii BISH 1909-06-20
8 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Munro, G.C. 521 Hawaii BISH 1923-06-06
9 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. Kauai BISH
10 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Imada, C. Hawaii BISH 1987-02-11
11 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Hillebrand, W.B. Kauai BISH
12 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. Kauai BISH
13 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Kaualu Kauai BISH
14 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. BISH
15 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. 2435 Kauai BISH 1909-03-01
16 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. BISH
17 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. BISH
18 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen BISH
19 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Aleurites forest near stream. Preserved_Specimen Tree 10 m tall, lvs bluish green, pale beneath, pods reddish glaucous. St.John, H. 24826 Oahu BISH 1952-06-11
20 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In degraded native vegetation, mostly Aleurites lowland mesic forest w/ Schinus, Leucaena, Toona, Syzygium cumini, Diospyros, Canthium Preserved_Specimen 1 erect tree, 2 fallen trees still alive, and scattered seedlings. Tree 6.096 meter in height. Perlman, S. 5988 Oahu BISH 1987-06-24
21 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details 45 degree slope in mesic summer dry terrain, in deep shade, but crown exposed. Under canopy of Diospyros, Pisonia, Eugenia. Preserved_Specimen Obata, J.K. 77313 Oahu BISH 1977-04-17
22 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Open Metrosideros-Diospyros forest, substrate of undecomposed clinker, understory heavily grazed by feral ungulates. Preserved_Specimen 30'-35' tree in shallow lava channel, large fruit crop on tree as well as on ground but no regeneration seen. Takeuchi, W.N. 4534 Hawaii BISH 1989-04-22
23 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details `A`a lava field. Pennisetum setaceum w/ scrub Schinus, Capparis, Canthium, Leucaena. Preserved_Specimen Solitary, fallen tree 2.5 cm diam at base. Nagata, K.M. 2347 Hawaii BISH 1981-07-18
24 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Growing in arid slope in thicket of Psidium guajava and Lantana camara Preserved_Specimen Tree 6 m height Kikudome, G.Y. Oahu BISH 1950-09-15
25 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Locally not uncommon in a`a lava wastes. Preserved_Specimen Degener, O. 7280 Hawaii BISH 1926-08-23
26 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Assoc. with Colubrina oppositifolia. Preserved_Specimen Tree c. 5 m high, fls. deep pink. Webster, G.L. 14012 Hawaii BISH 1968-06-30
27 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Dryish sunny ridge below Dupont trail. Preserved_Specimen Dying 15 ft tree with 6 in trunk; 4 seedlings in neighborhood. Degener, O. 20681 Oahu BISH 1950-07-02
28 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Open forest. Preserved_Specimen Large tree, decadent, setting abundant fruit, all states from flowers to old pods present on same branch. Takeuchi, W.N. 3536 Hawaii BISH 1987-05-01
29 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In Diospyros lowland mesic forest with Pouteria, Pittosporum, Rauvolfia, Ochrosia, Colubrina oppositifolia, Eugenia reinwardtiana, Nestegis, Pteralyxia, Cyrtandra, Myrsine, Schinus. Preserved_Specimen 7 mature trees, 20-25 ft ht and seedlings, with flowers and fruit. Perlman, S. 5965 Oahu BISH 1987-06-09
30 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In dry forest on a`a lava, with Colubrina oppositifolia, Diospyros ferrea subsp. sandwicensis, Erythrina sandwicensis, Canthium odoratum, Dracaena (Pleomele) aurea, Nothocestrum breviflorum. Preserved_Specimen Tree 12 feet high, foliage pale green, fruits rose, very glaucous. This individual is perhaps the last known tree of this species. Carlquist, S. 2081 Hawaii BISH 1966-07-28
31 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In Diospyros lowland mesic forest w/ Pouteria, Pittosporum, Rauvolfia, Ochrosia, Colubrina oppositifolia, Eugenia reinwardtiana, Nestegis, Pteralyxia, Cyrtandra, Myrsine Preserved_Specimen 7 mature trees, 6.096-7.62 m height and seedlings with flowers and fruit Perlman, S. 5965 Oahu BISH 1987-06-09
32 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Near Pleomele aurea 3407, 3409, Nototrichium 3402, Colubrina 3410, and Kokia s.n. Preserved_Specimen Single 5m+ tree. Numerous pods picked up on ground, distribution of fallen fruit in the following spatial pattern (picture: 5 m oblong on east side of tree, 20 m by 5 m oblong on west). 25 pods were opened; 23 contained a single seed, the remainder had 2 well-formed seeds, there was no evidence of insect mining. Imada, C. Hawaii BISH 1987-02-11
33 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Dry forest. Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. Hawaii BISH 1944-08-06
34 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Dry forest Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. Hawaii BISH 1944-06-06
35 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Rough lava. Preserved_Specimen Tree. Height 6 m MacDaniels, L.H. 299 Hawaii BISH 1926-12-01
36 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Open Metrosideros-Diospyros forest, substrate of undecomposed clinker, understory heavily grazed by feral ungulates. In shallow lava channel. Preserved_Specimen 30'-35' tree. Takeuchi, W.N. 4534 Hawaii BISH 1989-04-22
37 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Open forest. Preserved_Specimen Large tree, decadent, setting abundant fruit, all states from flowers to old pods present on same branch. Takeuchi, W.N. 3536 Hawaii BISH 1987-05-01
38 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In degraded native vegetation, mostly Aleurites lowland mesic forest w/ Schinus, Leucaena, Toona, Syzygium cumini, Diospyros, Canthium Preserved_Specimen Tree 6.096 m height; 1 erect tree, 2 fallen trees still alive, and scattered seedlings Perlman, S. 5988 Oahu BISH 1987-06-24
39 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Flowers pink. Herbst, D.R. 1586 Hawaii BISH 1970-02-22
40 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Rough lava. Preserved_Specimen Tree, height 6 m. MacDaniels, L.H. 299 Hawaii BISH 1926-12-01
41 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details in hanging valley. Degraded Diverse Mesic Forest Diospyros sandwicensis, Sideroxylon, Pouteria, Mestrosideros, Psychotria, Kadua, Bobea, Myrsine, Nestegis, Rauvolfia Pleomele, Melia, understory of Doryopteris decora, Lantana, Hyptis pectinata, Kalan Preserved_Specimen Large tree 20 ft. tall. Three trunks, leaning out downhill. 70% of leaves missing. Flowers pink. Petiole covered in red-brn hairs. Young pods glaucous w / pink-yellow tint. Pods flat 1-4 seeds, most w/ 1-2. Bark in square chunks Tangalin, N. 2928 Kauai BISH 2011-12-20
42 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In dry, forested kipuka. Preserved_Specimen Medium sized tree with deep pink flowers; also a seedling seen. Herbst, D.R. 1177 Hawaii BISH 1968-07-01
43 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Arid talus slope, in thicket of Psidium guajava & Lantana camara. Preserved_Specimen Tree 20 ft tall. Hatheway, W.H. 358 Oahu BISH 1950-09-15
44 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Scattered Metrosideros, Myoporum and Schinus. Preserved_Specimen Ht 5m, DBH 4 cm Nagata, K.M. 2351 Hawaii BISH 1981-07-19
45 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Open tall savanna. Associated spp: Lama, wiliwili, ohia, Lantana, fountain grass. On a`a. Preserved_Specimen Tree 25 ft. DBH 2 ft. Flower red, shape like mamane. Fruit pods singly or many seeded. Bark light gray. Montgomery, S.L. 69 Hawaii BISH 1971-08-01
46 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Dry mixed native tree community with an exotic grass and native and exotic shrub understory. Growing on `a`a substrate. Preserved_Specimen 35 cm Bd; 12m tall. Green flowers; unhealthy plant. Warshauer, F.R. 2138 Hawaii BISH 1978-08-03
47 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details full sun Preserved_Specimen 2.5 m shrub, open; petals cream, with dark pink to crimson toward margins; flower odorless, afternoon Lau, J. 1602 Oahu BISH 1985-11-05
48 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Locally not uncommon in a`a lava wastes. Preserved_Specimen Degener, O. 7279 Hawaii BISH 1930-01-18
49 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Assoc. with Colubrina oppositifolia. Preserved_Specimen Tree c. 5 m high, fls. deep pink. Webster, G.L. 14012 Hawaii BISH 1968-06-30
50 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Gillett, G.W. 1983 Hawaii BISH 1966-10-08
51 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Skottsberg, C.J.F. 1113 Hawaii BISH 1992-11-17
52 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. 3910 Hawaii BISH 1909-06-14
53 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 456 Hawaii BISH 1911-08-01
54 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Tree c. 9.114 m tall with a 15 cm dbh; flowers deep pink; many seedlings Herbst, D.R. 5251 Oahu BISH 1975-03-09
55 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details with Diospyros sandwicensis, Bobea timonioides, Flueggea, Tetraplasandra, Melia, Lantana, Aleurites Preserved_Specimen 12' tree; with fruit Perlman, S. 7015 Kauai BISH 1987-11-27
56 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen tree 7 m x 15 cm; canopy sparse, foliage glaucous green; flowers with reddish pedicels, calyx lobes reddish green, yellow basally, petals pink, hypanthium pinkish green, ovary green; fruit glaucous grey brown Lorence, D.H. 8904 Kauai BISH 2002-06-28
57 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In company with mamani, ohe, kokio. Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. 3641 Hawaii BISH 1909-06-19
58 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Gillett, G.W. 1983 Hawaii BISH 1966-10-08
59 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen naturalized Pearsall, G.A. Oahu BISH 1949-07-17
60 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 24 Hawaii BISH 1911-06-01
61 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Cranwell, L.M. 3209 Hawaii BISH 1938-09-11
62 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. 3802 Hawaii BISH 1909-06-20
63 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Takeuchi, W.N. 1760 Oahu BISH 1984-08-01
64 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Wagner, W.L. 4896 Hawaii BISH 1983-07-28
65 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Bennett, T. 67 Oahu BISH 1982-01-30
66 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Bishop, L.E. 3017004 Oahu BISH 1970-03-01
67 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 456 Hawaii BISH 1911-08-01
68 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. 3904 Hawaii BISH 1909-06-14
69 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Munro, G.C. Hawaii BISH 1923-06-06
70 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. Hawaii BISH 1955-12-09
71 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Russ, G.W. Oahu BISH 1931-06-01
72 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rock, J.F.C. Hawaii BISH
73 Mezoneuron kauaiense Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Mann, H. Kauai BISH 1864-01-01
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