From Common Forest Trees of Hawaii

'Ohi'a Ha
Syzygium sandwicense
Eucalyptus-Like family (Myrtaceae)

Native species ()

native tree of wet forests (except on the island of Hawaii), characterized by four-angled twigs, paired elliptical to oblong leaves, small white or pinkish flowers with many tiny and small rounded shiny red edible A large forest tree to 60 ft (18 ) high and 3 ft (0.9 ) in trunk diameter or shrubby on exposed ridges. Bark gray to reddish brown, smoothish to slightly fissured; Inner bark is light brown, slightly astringent. Twigs four-angled and slightly winged, slightly enlarged at ringed hairless, greenish when young, turning brown.


©2010 David Eickhoff
Leaves hairless, with short leaf-stalks of 1⁄8–1⁄2 inch (3–13 ). Blades variable in shape, elliptical to oblong, 1–4 inches (2.5–10 ) long and 3⁄4–2 inches (2–5 ) wide, rounded and usually notched at blunt at base, often widest beyond middle and turned under at edges, slightly thick and leathery, curved up on sides, upper surface shiny green with side veins inconspicuous, beneath light green, with -dots visible under lens. Crushed leaves emit a distinctive odor.

Flower clusters () 1 1⁄2–3 inches (4–7.5 ) long at bases of upper leaves, with four-angled branches. Flowers several to many on stalks of 1⁄8 inch (3 ), about 5⁄16 inch (8 ) long and wide, composed of funnel shaped greenish base (), four pinkish rounded on rim, four rounded fringed white or pinkish petals less than 1⁄8 inch (3 ) long, many tiny white and with inferior two-celled and short

(berries) are rounded and slightly flattened, 5⁄16– 3⁄8 inch (8–10 ) in diameter, with at top, shiny red, with slightly sour edible white pulp. Seeds 1–2, 1⁄8 inch (3 ) long. are often abundant in late summer. The wood is described as reddish brown, hard, and durable; it was used as fuel and for house construction by the Hawaiians. The bark furnished a black dye for tapa or bark cloth.

Common and widespread in lower and middle wet forests to 4000 ft (1,219 ) altitude.

Special area
Kokee

Range
Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, and Maui

Other common names
hā, pā‘ihi (Maui), Hawaiian syzygium

Botanical
Eugenia sandwicensis A. Gray

An evergreen tree retains a large portion of its green leaves all year.

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

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.

node -- The point at which there is attached growth, as in the place where each leaf is attached.

cm -- A centimeter which is about 0.4 inches.

In an opposite leaf arrangement the leaves come in pairs with one leaf on each side of a stem.

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

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

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.

Glands are plant structures that secrete liquids, salts or other substances. Glands often appear as hairs with a drop of liquid at the end.

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

cyme -- Multiple flower stalks emerge from a single point and the flowers at the end bloom first.

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

synonym -- In botany a synonym is a species name that at one time was thought to be the correct name for a plant but was later found to be incorrect and has been replaced by a new name.

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.

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.