Melicope balloui

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Speciesbox

| status = PE

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Keir, M. |date=2020 |title=Melicope balloui |volume=2020 |page=e.T33661A83802382 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T33661A83802382.en |access-date=17 November 2021}}

| genus = Melicope

| species = balloui

| authority = (Rock) T.G. Hartley & B.C. Stone

}}

Melicope balloui, also called Ballou's melicope{{PLANTS|id=MEBA|taxon=Melicope balloui|accessdate=2 July 2015}} or rock pelea, is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is threatened by habitat loss. Like other Hawaiian Melicope, this species is known as alani.USFWS. [http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/pub/listedPlants.jsp Species Reports: Plants.]

This plant was described in 1913 by Joseph Rock, who named it after Howard M. Ballou, proofreader of his book on Hawaiian trees. It is a shrub or small tree with leathery oval leaves up to 10 centimeters long by 7 wide. Young twigs are coated in yellow-brown hairs. The female inflorescence contains 5 to 9 flowers; the male flower has never been seen. The fruit is a capsule about 2.5 centimeters wide.USFWS. [http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/federal_register/fr2741.pdf Endangered Status for Three Hawaiian Plant Species of the Genus Melicope.] Federal Register December 5, 1994.

This plant is only known from the slopes of the volcano Haleakalā on Maui. There is a single occurrence containing an unknown number of plants.[http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Melicope+balloui Melicope balloui.] The Nature Conservancy.