Ohia-ai. Plate 41 from the book: Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands

Plate 41 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 Ohia-Ai.

Eugenia (Jambosa) malaccensis, Linn.

The Ohia-ai is mostly found in sheltered valleys near streams. It is easily propagated by seed, and grows rapidly, beginning to bear fruit when seven or eight years old. Where isolated it inclines to grow like a shrub, but, when growing in groves, or sheltered by other trees, it often attains a height of fifty feet, with a perfectly straight trunk.

It is a handsome tree at all times, but especially so in spring, when brilliant with masses of splendid carmine blossoms; and again in autumn, when loaded with fruit of the same beauiful colour.

The flowers grow directly from the branches, and even from the trunk, giving the tree a peculiarly rich appearance; and the blossoms are so numerous, that, when they fall, the ground beneath is covered with a bright red carpet.

The fruit in shape resembles an oblong apple, with a white, juicy, but rather insipid pulp.

The ohia-ai is also a native of the Society Islands; where it is called ohia, and is similar in all respects to the Hawaiian variety.