From Common Forest Trees of Hawaii

Ōpuhe
Urera glabra
Nettle family (Urticaceae)

Native species ()

Medium-sized native tree on the island of Hawaii or a shrub or small tree on the other islands, with slightly milky or watery sap, elliptical wavy leaves, and very numerous tiny flowers along twigs partly back of leaves, male and female on different trees. To 35 ft (10.7 ) high, with a straight trunk 1 ft (0.3 ) in diameter and long stout branches. Bark gray, smooth, very fibrous.


©2003 Forest And Kim Starr
Leaves with leaf-stalks of 1 1⁄4–2 inches (3–5 ). Blades oblong or narrowly elliptical, 6–14 inches (15–36 ) long and 1 1⁄2–4 3⁄4 inches (4–12 ) wide, long-pointed at blunt at base, finely wavy in upper part, thin or thick and slightly fleshy, usually three-veined at base, with 12–15 parallel straight sunken veins on each side, beneath pale and often hairy along veins. Microscopic mineral growths (cystoliths) like crystals are present.

Flower clusters () at base of leaves or back of leaves, about 2–3 inches (5–7.5 ) in diameter, much forked regularly by two. Flowers male and female on different plants (), very numerous, without Male flowers 8–20 almost stalkless in rounded balls, each about 1⁄8 inch (3 ) in diameter, composed of pale reddish to whitish 4–5 and five Female flowers with 3–4- bordered by a cup and with and yellow

are rounded, about 1⁄8 inch (3 ) in diameter, with enlarged fleshy orange yellow enclosing one seed (), elliptical and rough, with yellow

The wood is soft and lightweight. The fibrous bark was used by the Hawaiians for fish nets and at times for their tapa cloth.

Widespread in moist forests through the islands, as a tree at 500–5500 ft (152–1676 ) altitude on the island of Hawaii and as a shrub or small tree on the other islands.

Special areas
Volcanoes, Kipuka Puaula, Wahiawa

Range
Hawaiian Islands only

Other common names
hōpue, hona

Botanical
Urea sandwicensis Wedd.

Treated here as a single variable species, though also separated as two. Another, Urera kaalae Wawra, Kaala urera, is a small tree of the Waianae Range of Oahu, with veined heart-shaped leaves, possibly or almost extinct.

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.

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

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.

cm -- A centimeter which is about 0.4 inches.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

palmate -- Consisting of leaflets or lobes radiating from the base of the leaf. Palmately veined, palmately lobed, palmately compound.

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

stigma - The tip of a pistil that receives 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.

dioecious -- When male and female reproductive structures are on separate plants.

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

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.