Ala'a. Really nice native Hawaiian tree that no one knows about.

Ala'a

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Endemic to the Hawaiian islands; occurs in dry to mesic forest and diverse mesic forest, 780-3200 ft, on all the main islands except Ni`ihau and Kaho`olawe

Wood is yellow with black streaks, hard, straight-grained with faint growth rings; to 50 ft tall, 16 inch dbh

Important to Hawaiian culture; milky sap was formerly used as birdlime to catch small birds; the hard wood was used for house construction, `a`a (digging sticks), and spears.

This one, like quite a few others, is in the enclosure mauka of the upper road. The tree is really attractive, with or without the yellow fruit. The bark is light grey and smooth, the leaves are reddish underneath. A very nice tree.