From Common Forest Trees of Hawaii

Oahu False Ohelo
Wikstroemia oahuensis
Leatherwood family (Thymelaeaceae)

Native species ()

Plants of ‘akia, Wikstroemia, are easily recognized, though further identification of the species, about 12, found through the Hawaiian Islands is not so easy. Most species are shrubs, and only a few reach tree size. They have blackish or gray, often reddish brown, very tough bark with strong fibers, which served early Hawaiians as rope. These reputedly poisonous plants formerly were pounded into pulp and thrown into water to stupefy fish to aid in their capture. Plants of ‘akia are known by the mostly small narrow paired leaves, slender very tough twigs with strong fibers difficult to break, with raised triangular leaf-scars, small narrowly tubular four- greenish to yellow fragrant flowers, and small orange stone


©2011 Forest And Kim Starr
This species varies from a low shrub of 2–4 ft (0.6–1.2 ) to a small tree to 25 ft (7.6 ) high and 6 inches (15 ) in trunk diameter. Bark dark gray or blackish, smoothish, very tough, fibrous, and bitter. Twigs paired and partly forking by two, light green when young, later dark brown, almost hairless, with raised triangular leaf scars and enlarged

Leaves hairless, with short light green leaf-stalks of less than 3⁄8 inch (1 ) long. Blades narrowly elliptical, 1 1⁄4–2 3⁄4 inches (3–7 ) long and 1⁄2–1 inch (1.3–2.5 ) wide, short-pointed at both ends, not slightly thick and leathery, upper surface dull green with side veins fine and inconspicuous, and lower surface dull light green.

Flower clusters (like ) are with short stalks less than 1⁄4 inch (6 ) long, which are curved down and Flowers several, short-stalked, very narrow, 3⁄8 inch (10 ) long and less than 1⁄8 inch (3 ) wide, light greenish yellow, without composed of tube (), with four spreading turned back, eight tiny four within tube and four in the and with elliptical single-celled very short and larger round

() one or two, oblong or egg-shaped, 1⁄2 inch (13 ) long and 5⁄16 inch (8 ) in diameter, enclosed by tube, with at from light yellow to orange, fleshy, bitter. Seed single, egg-shaped, 5⁄16 inch (8 ) long, pointed, blackish.

The wood of another species (W. sandwicensis Meisn.) is whitish and very soft, subject to blue stain.

Scattered in the understory of wet forests of Oahu, for example, Niu Valley, Mt. Konahuanui, and Poamoho Ridge, to 4600 ft (1402 ) elevation.

Range
Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui

Other common names
asasa, false ‘ohelo

Botanical
Wikstroemia basicordata Skottsb., W. degeneri Skottsb., W. elongata Gray, W. eugenioides Skottsb., W. haleakalensis Skottsb., W. isae Skottsb., W. lanaiensis Skottsb., W leptantha Skottsb., W. macrosiphon Skottsb., W. palustris Hochr.; W. recurva (Hillebr.) Skottsb., W. sellingii Skottsb., W. vaccinifolia Skottsb.

Plants of ‘akia are extremely poisonous if eaten, according to Degener (1930), though harmless to the touch. Root and bark were ingredients of a deadly drink for suicide or for execution of criminals by order of a chief. However, Arnold (1944) concluded that plants of this were not as poisonous as commonly reputed and possibly might not be toxic to humans. Baldwin (1979) also reported questionable toxicity, but recommended that the not be eaten.

The narcotic substance of this and a few unrelated plants served also as a fish poison. The bark and leaves were pounded into powder with stones on rocks near a tidal pool or stream. This powder was placed in double handfuls in the fibrous of a coconut leaf or in a twisted bunch of grass. Then the material was quickly inserted under a rock or in crevices where fish were expected. Within 10 minutes, the fish would swim about aimlessly or float on their sides and could be caught easily. Fortunately, the fish caught were edible.

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.

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

sheath -- a tubular or rolled part of an organ, e.g. the lower part of the leaf in most grasses.

throat -- The opening of a flower.

stigma - The tip of a pistil that receives the pollen.

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

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.

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

terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).

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

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.

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

An umbel is a collection of flowers on short stalks which spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs.

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

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

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

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

drupe -- A fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a hardened shell containing a seed. A peach is a drupe. A raspberry is composed of drupelets.

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.

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

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

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

persistent -- When the leaves of a plant fail to fall off in the fall they are persistent. Flowers that stay around after fruiting would be persistent.

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

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.