From Common Forest Trees of Hawaii

`Oha Wai Nui
Clermontia arborescens
Harebell family (Campanulaceae)

Native species ()

Clermontia is a distinctive of about 21 species of shrubs and small trees confined to Hawaii. Several are classed as rare. Only a few species reach tree size, and one example will serve for recognition of the group. These plants have few branches, like candelabras, and milky sap. They bear many long narrow leaves at the ends of stout branches. The few large flowers borne on stalks at leaf bases have an curved tubular deeply split to base, varying from green to white or yellowish to purplish. The are large yellow or orange berries 1 inch (2.5 ) or more in diameter, edible but insipid.


©2011 Forest And Kim Starr
`Oha wai nui, one of the largest in size and in flower size, is a tree recorded at 15–25 ft (4.6–7.6 ) tall with a trunk to 8 inches (20 ) in diameter, or rarely a shrub, hairless or nearly so throughout. Bark gray, smooth to slightly scaly. Twigs stout, light gray, with many large rounded leaf-scars diagonally arranged below the leaves. White sap or latex flowing abundantly from cuts, almost tasteless.

Leaves many, but crowded together near ends of branches, large, spreading on slender leaf-stalks of 1 1⁄4–2 1⁄2 inches (3–6 ). Blades oblong, 5–7 inches (12–18 ) long and 2 1⁄4–2 inches (3–5 ) wide, often slightly long-pointed at both ends, wavy on edges, thick and leathery, shiny dark green above, pale beneath.

Flowers 1–2 at leaf base on stalks of about 1 inch (2.5 ) from fleshy stalk of about 3⁄8 inch (1 ), 2 1⁄2–3 1⁄4 inches (6–8 ) long, large and fleshy, hairless, consisting of bell-shaped base () 3⁄4 inch (2 ) long ending in fleshy of five short blunt fleshy 2–2 3⁄4 inches (5–7 ) long, greenish or whitish with reddish purple tinge, and much curved, deeply five- and deeply split to base; five, separate from purplish or violet, in column 2 1⁄2 inches (6 ) long, united by the long and with inferior two-celled numerous ovules, and long

() rounded, 1–1 1⁄2 inches (2.5–4 ) in diameter, yellow, with five long ridges and grooves, and with at two-celled. Seeds, many, about 1⁄32 inch (1 ) long, rounded but flattened, shiny yellow or brown.

The yellow berries are sometimes eaten by birds and humans.

One of the most common species of the in the understory of wet forests at 1700–6000 ft (518–1829 ) elevation.

Range
Molokai, Lanai, and Maui

Other common names
‘oha, tree clermontia

stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower; The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.

mm -- millimeter. About 1/25th of an inch.

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

alternate -- leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.

Irregular flowers, such as those of the violet or the pea, are often bilaterally symmeteric. These flowers typically have petals of unequal size or shape.

cm -- A centimeter which is about 0.4 inches.

The hypanthium or floral cup is a cup-like structure formed by the fused bases of the stamens, petals, and sepals.

lobe -- Rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ). Lobes bulge out about 1/4 of the leaf diameter.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.

m -- A meter is about 10% larger than a yard.

The apex is the tip or the furthest point from the attachment.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

The botanical term "berry" is different from common usage. Strawberries and raspberries are not berries. But a tomatoe is. A true berry is a fruit with the seeds immersed in the pulp.

The anther is a pad at the end of the stamen that holds the pollen.

An ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower. Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

A pistil is the female structure of many flowers. It contains one or more carpels. Each carpel contins an ovary, style and stigma. The stigma receives the pollen which grows thru the style to reach the ovary.

endemic -- when restricted to a certain country or area.