Melicope balloui
Melicope balloui, also called Ballou's melicope[2] or rock pelea, is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is threatened by habitat loss. Like other Hawaiian Melicope, this species is known as alani.[3]
| Melicope balloui | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Genus: | Melicope |
| Species: | M. balloui |
| Binomial name | |
| Melicope balloui (Rock) T.G. Hartley & B.C. Stone | |
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.[4]
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.[5]
References
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Melicope balloui". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 1998: e.T33661A9801384. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T33661A9801384.en. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- "Melicope balloui". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
- USFWS. Species Reports: Plants.
- USFWS. Endangered Status for Three Hawaiian Plant Species of the Genus Melicope. Federal Register December 5, 1994.
- Melicope balloui. The Nature Conservancy.