Alectryon macrococcus
{{Short description|Species of tree}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Starr 060225-6122 Alectryon macrococcus var. auwahiensis.jpg
| image_caption = A. m. var. auwahiensis
| status = CR
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Alectryon
| species = macrococcus
| authority = Radlk.
}}
Alectryon macrococcus, known as {{okina}}Ala{{okina}}alahua or Māhoe in Hawaiian, is a slow-growing flowering tree in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that is endemic but manifests rarely in mesic forests of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, and Maui Hawaii.{{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=Warren L. |last2=Herbst |first2=Derral R. |last3=Sohmer |first3=S. H. |title=Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai'i |date=1999 |publisher=Univ. of Hawaii Press |location=Honolulu |isbn=9780824821661}} The tree grows to a maximal height of about 10 meters with leaves 3 to 30 cm long with two to five pairs of elliptic pinnae. The pinnae are smooth, glossy and net-veined, 4 to 10 inches long and 2 to 5 inches. Fruits are from 1 to 3 inches in diameter with a single black seed embedded in a red, fleshy aril.{{cite journal |author=Donald R. Hodel |date=2015 |title=Trees in the Landscape, Part 11: Alectryon excelsus subsp. excelsus |journal=PalmArbor |volume=2015 |issue=1 |pages=1–13 |url=https://ucanr.edu/sites/HodelPalmsTrees/files/203833.pdf}}
Their leaves are each made up of oval-shaped, asymmetrical, net-veined leaflets. Variety auwahiensis has leaflets with rusty-red undersides. The fruits contain a seed with a bright red aril. More than a century ago, it was noted that Native Hawaiians ate the fleshy, insipid and slightly sweet arils and mildly flavored seeds.{{cite book |author=Joseph Rock |year=1974 |title=The indigenous trees of the Hawaiian Islands |location=Lawai, Hawaii |publisher=Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden |isbn=0804811407}}native Hawaiians. The seeds also attract rats, whose consumption of them prevents the plants of this endangered species from reproducing. The black twig borer (Xylosandrus compactus) destroys the twigs.
Alectryon macrococcus var. auwahiensis has been found growing naturally only (endemic) in Maui, where it grows in Hawaiian tropical dry forests on the south slope of Haleakalā at elevations of {{convert|360|-|1070|m|ft|abbr=on}}. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Alectryon macrococcus var. macrococcus inhabits mesic forests at elevations of {{Convert|365|-|1035|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} on Kaua{{okina}}i, O{{okina}}ahu, Moloka{{okina}}i and western Maui.
References
{{Reflist | 27em | refs=
{{cite iucn |author=Bruegmann, M.M. |author2=Caraway, V. |date=2003 |title=Alectryon macrococcus var. auwahiensis |volume=2003 |page=e.T33574A9794168 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T33574A9794168.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}
{{Cite web|url=http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/cwcs/files/Flora%20fact%20sheets/Ale_mac_auw%20plant%20NTBG_OK.pdf |title=ʻAlaʻalahua, mahoe; Alectryon macrococcus var. auwahiensis |work=Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy |publisher=State of Hawaiʻi |access-date=14 Dec 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103132905/http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/cwcs/files/Flora%20fact%20sheets/Ale_mac_auw%20plant%20NTBG_OK.pdf |archive-date=2013-11-03 }}
{{cite iucn |author=Bruegmann, M.M. |author2=Caraway, V. |date=2003 |title=Alectryon macrococcus var. macrococcus |volume=2003 |page=e.T34045A9834010 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T34045A9834010.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}
{{Cite web | url= http://manoa.hawaii.edu/hpicesu/DPW/2003_MIP/Sec_1/AleMac.pdf | title= Taxon Summary: Alectryon macrococcus var. macrococcus | work= Final Implementation Plan for Mākua Military Reservation, Island of Oʻahu | publisher= University of Hawaii at Manoa | access-date= 14 Dec 2013}}
{{Cite web |title=Alectryon macrococcus var. auwahiensis |url=http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/collection/cpc_viewprofile.asp?CPCNum=7620 |work=CPC National Collection Plant Profile |publisher=Center for Plant Conservation |access-date=14 Dec 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028194747/http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/collection/cpc_viewprofile.asp?CPCNum=7620 |archive-date=2010-10-28}}
{{Cite web | url= http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Alectryon+macrococcus | title= Comprehensive Report Species - Alectryon macrococcus | work= The Nature Conservancy | access-date= 14 Dec 2013 }}
{{Cite journal | last1= Linney | first1= G. | year= 1987 | title= Nomenclatural and taxonomic changes in Hawaiian Alectryon (Sapindaceae) | journal= Pacific Science | volume= 41 | issue= 1–4 | pages= 68–73 | hdl= 10125/1021 }}
{{Cite journal | last1= St John | first1= H. | last2= Frederick | first2= L. | year= 1949 | title= A Second Hawaiian Species of Alectryon (Sapindaceae): Hawaiian Plant Studies 17 | journal= Pacific Science | volume= 3 | issue= 4 | pages= 296–301 | hdl= 10125/8938 }}
}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|Alectryon macrococcus|Alectryon macrococcus}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4714319}}
Category:Plants described in 1890
Category:Endemic flora of Hawaii
Category:Critically endangered plants
Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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