Alani (Olokele Valley melicope/ Knudsen's melicope)

Melicope knudsenii, a member of the Rutaceae (rue) family, is a tree 3 to 10 m (10 to 33 ft) tall with smooth gray bank and yellowish brown to olive-brown hairs on the tips of the branches. Leaves are variable, ranging from oblong to elliptic, 9 to 25 cm (3.5 to 9.8 in) long and 4.5 to 10 cm (1.8 to 3.9 in) wide. The lower surface of the leaves is uniformly covered with olive-brown hairs, but the upper surface is only sparsely hairy along the midrib. The densely hairy flowers are bisexual or may be unisexual. There are usually 20 to 200 flowers per cluster in the leaf axils. The sepals and petals are covered with silky gray hairs and the sepals persist in fruit. The fruits are 18 to 30 mm (0.7 to 1.2 in) wide and are comprised of distinct follicles 8 to 14 mm (0.3 to 0.6 in) long. The hairless exocarp is dotted with minute glands. The endocarp also lacks hairs. Seeds number one or two per carpel (ovule-bearing structure) and are about 5 to 6 mm (0.2 in) long.

The species historical range included Hawaii. See below for information about where the species is known or believed to occur.

Habitat Requirements

Melicope knudsenii occurs in forested flats or talus slopes in lowland dry to mesic forest at 450 to 1,000 m (1,500 to 3,300 ft). The Auwahi population on Maui occurs on a substrate of aa lava in a remnant native forest, dominated by a continuous mat of Pennisetum clandestinum (Kikuyu grass). Native plants associated with the Kauai populations include Dodonaea viscosa (aalii), Antidesma spp. (hame), Metrosideros spp. (ohia), and Xylosma spp. (maua).

Food Habits

Movement / Home Range

Historically, Melicope knudsenii was known only from the southeast slope of Haleakala on Maui and from Olokele Canyon on Kauai. Currently, there is only one wild Melicope knudsenii tree remaining, on Kauai.

Reproductive Strategy

On Kauai, flowering specimens were noted from March through May, and August to November; fruiting specimens were noted in March, May, August, and October. On Maui, flowering and fruiting were both noted between February and March, and July through November.

Other

The distinct carpels of the fruit, the hairless endocarp, the larger number of flowers per cluster, and the distribution of hairs on the underside of the leaves distinguish Melicope knudsenii from M. haupuensis and other species of the genus. Molecular studies indicate that trees on Maui may represent a new species, Melicope multiflora; and Kauai specimens may represent two lineages.