DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
- leaves attached alternately on the stems, thick and fairly leathery
- leaves dark green and glossy above with recessed veins; paler beneath with protruding network of veins
- leaves of larger plants usually with a smooth margin; leaves of seedlings with soft teeth on margin, reflecting the evolutionary origin of this member of the holly genus
- species name “anomala” may refer to this difference with other members of the genus Ilex
- young trees often with a conspicuously straight, single upright stem without side branches
TRADITIONAL HAWAIIAN USES
- hard wood used as anvils or beaters in making kapa cloth and for canoe parts
HAWAIIAN RAIN FOREST ECOLOGY
- tree of the secondary canopy with mature trees below the emergent `ōhi`a and koa and above the tree ferns; sometimes in younger forests as tall as or taller than slower-growing `ōhi`a
- abundant kāwa`u seedlings and young plants growing on nurse logs or from the soil where trees ferns are not dense, now that kahili ginger removed
- can develop into a large tree on nurse logs lying on forest floor, with roots penetrating the soil as the nurse log decomposes
- common as an epiphyte, especially on tree ferns, but usually cannot develop into a large tree; does not form long aerial roots like `ōlapa or `ōhi`a
- kāwa`u’s upright, unbranched growth form common in tropical rain forests outside Hawai`i; these trees adapted to rapidly grow into upper canopy with more available light
SAY IT IN HAWAIIAN!
Hawaiian Rain Forest 