Melicope balloui

Melicope balloui
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Melicope
Species: M. balloui
Binomial name
Melicope balloui
(Rock) T.G. Hartley & B.C. Stone

Melicope balloui (also called Ballou's melicope[1] or rock pelea) is a species of plant in the Rutaceae family. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is threatened by habitat loss. Like other Hawaiian Melicope, this species is known as alani.[2]

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.[2]

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.[3]

References

  1. "Melicope balloui". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 USFWS. Species Reports: Plants.
  3. Melicope balloui. The Nature Conservancy.


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