Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs 2.5–4 m tall.

Stems: Stems unbranched or sparingly branched at base, muricate, more so in juveniles.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades pinnately divided, cut ¾–7/8 the distance to the midrib, blades 17–30 cm long, 7–14 cm wide (across the segments), segments 10–15 per side, oblanceolate, pinnately divided. Upper surfaces glabrous; lower surfaces pubescent on the midrib and veins, muricate in juveniles. Margins coarsely dentate. Petioles 3–5.5 cm long, muricate. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescences 10–15–flowered, pubescent, peduncles 10–30 mm long, pedicels 10–15 mm long. Flowers bisexual (perfect); hypanthium obconical, 4–6 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, glabrous. Calyx lobes oblong, 3–6 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, apex acute. Corolla pale greenish white, 30–36 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, the tube gently curved, the lobes spreading, approximately as long as the tube. Stamens 5, alternate with corolla lobes, connate; staminal column densely pubescent; anthers densely pubescent, the lower 2 with apical tufts of white hairs. Ovary inferior, 2-celled; ovule placentation axile; stigma 2-lobed, wet or dry, appressed and nonreceptive as the style grows through the anther tube, pushing out the pollen, after which the stigmas spread apart and become receptive.

Fruit: Berries broadly ellipsoid; 12–15 mm long; 11–13 mm wide. Seeds numerous.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Occurring in mesic forest; windward slopes of Mauna Kea; Hawai'i.

Elevation Range: