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

Critically endangered, possibly extinct  (IUCN 2.3)[1]
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

  1. 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.
  2. "Melicope balloui". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  3. USFWS. Species Reports: Plants.
  4. USFWS. Endangered Status for Three Hawaiian Plant Species of the Genus Melicope. Federal Register December 5, 1994.
  5. Melicope balloui. The Nature Conservancy.


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