Aalii. Plate 39 from the book: Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands

Plate 39 of 44 from Isabella Sinclair's Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands (1885). The coloured illustration is accompanied by the following text describing the plant:

The Aalii.

Dodonaea viscosa, Linn.

The Aalii is mostly found in the dry districts of the islands, often sustaining life and vigour on the most arid spots. On the lowlands, and within three or four miles of the sea, it is merely a shrub from four to eight feet high, but on the mountains it sometimes attains a height of thirty feet, with a trunk three feet in circumference. Upon the low dry land, it usually grows bushy, and in groves, quite shading the ground with its thick foliage, very grateful to the eye in the blazing sunshine. The blossom is small and insignificant, but the outer covering (represented in the plate) of the seed, is pretty and bright coloured, hanging in graceful clusters, reminding one very much of hops.

The wood of the aalii is exceedingly hard and susceptible of a fine polish. It is almost identical with the akeake of New Zealand, so much so that the most casual observer cannot fail to perceive the similarity. In olden times it was used by the Hawaiians for making spears and others implements of war - a purpose for which the Maories used the akeake.