Bobea

{{short description|Genus of flowering plants in the coffee family Rubiaceae}}

{{For|the Bantu language spoken in Cameroon|Wovea language}}

{{automatic taxobox

|image = Starr 040713-0002 Bobea elatior.jpg

|image_caption = Bobea gaudichaudii

|display_parents = 2

|taxon = Bobea

|authority = Gaudichaud

|type_species = Bobea gaudichaudii

|type_species_authority = (Cham. & Schltdl.) H.St.John & Herbst

|synonyms =

}}

Bobea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It includes five species, four of which are endemic to Hawaii and one to eastern Queensland in Australia.<{{cite web |title=Bobea Gaudich. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:34237-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=20 March 2025}} Bobea was named for Jean-Baptiste Bobe-Moreau by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré in 1830 in his book Voyage de l'Uranie.

The wood of Bobea is hard, wearable, and yellow. It was used for the gunwales of Polynesian voyaging canoes. The gunwales of modern canoes are sometimes painted yellow in imitation of the wood that is no longer widely available.

Species

Five species are accepted.

  • Bobea brevipes A.Gray{{okina}}Ahakea lau li{{okina}}i (Kaua{{okina}}i, O{{okina}}ahu){{cite web|url=http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/resultsdetailed.asp?search=ahakea|title=ahakea, ahakea lau lii (B. brevipes), akupa (B. brevipes), ahakea lau nui (B. elatior)|work=Hawaiian Ethnobotany Online Database|publisher=Bernice P. Bishop Museum|accessdate=24 March 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702123039/http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/resultsdetailed.asp?search=ahakea|archivedate=2007-07-02}}
  • Bobea elatior {{small|Gaudich.}} – {{okina}}Ahakea lau nui (Kaua{{okina}}i, Moloka{{okina}}i, Maui, island of Hawai{{okina}}i)
  • Bobea myrtoides {{small|(F.Muell.) Valeton}} – eastern Queensland
  • Bobea sandwicensis (A.Gray) Hillebr.{{okina}}Ahakea{{cite journal|url=http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/data/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Bobea_sandwicensis.pdf|title=ʻAhakea|vauthors=Little EL Jr, Skolmen RG|publisher=United States Forest Service|year=1989}}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (O{{okina}}ahu, Moloka{{okina}}i, Lāna{{okina}}i, Maui)
  • Bobea timonioides (Hook.f.) Hillebr.{{okina}}Ahakea (Maui, island of Hawai{{okina}}i)

References

{{Reflist}}