The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Alectryon macrococcus
Also called Mahoe
Alectryon macrococcus, known as ʻAlaʻalahua or Māhoe in Hawaiian, is a slow-growing flowering tree in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that is endemic to mesic forests on the islands of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, and Maui in Hawaii.
Alectryon macrococcus inhabits mesic forests at elevations of 365–1,035 m (1,200–3,400 ft) on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi and western Maui. Historically, A. macrococcus var. macrococcus was widespread on the leeward sides of the Hawaiian Islands, but its population has been severely reduced. On Kauaʻi, it was reported near Makaweli in initial surveys, and can be found from Olokele Canyon to Kalalau Valley. It is reportedly uncommon on Oʻahu, where it is known from both the leeward and windward sides of the Waianae Range, the Mākaha Valley, and from two historical records in the Koʻolau Range. Soon after being documented on Molokaʻi in 1913, it was considered to be practically extinct there, and is extirpated from the type locality; today it has only been reported from the western region of East Molokaʻi, and only ten plants are thought to remain. On Maui, it is found in valleys and gulches on the eastern, western, and southern slopes of the West Maui Mountains, although less than twenty plants were recorded on Maui between 1973 and 2003.
Rock reported that Native Hawaiians ate the fleshy, light-tasting fruits and mildly flavored seeds, although the wood was not known to be widely used. The Hawaiian name of Alectryon macrococcus, māhoe, meant "twins", and likely referred to the fruits of the tree, which often form in pairs.
Alectryon · Beach Alectryon · Holly Bush · Three Kings Titoki · George Alectryon · Australian Rosewood · Alectryon ramiflorus · Alectryon repandodentatus · Bird's Eye · Hard Alectryon · Hairy Bird's Eye · Alectryon
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alectryon macrococcus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
