Akala. Plate 43 from the book: Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands

Plate 43 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 Akala.

Rubus hawaiensis, Gray.?

The subject of the present plate is a large and handsome variety of the common raspberry. It attains a height of from ten to fifteen feet, and produces a profusion of large beautiful purple berries; which become almost black when fully ripe. Unfortunately, the fruit is not so pleasing to the taste as to the eye, being insipid and flavourless, but its appearance is so tempting, that one cannot refrain from gathering the delicious looking berries. The Akala is generally found growing near streams, or on damp ground, far in the cool mountains. It is rarely seen at a less elevation than three thousand feet. Therefore, its habitat may be considered a temperate climate. It blossoms in April and May, and is generally in full bearing about the middle of June, but like many plants of the islands, its flowering and fruiting seasons vary considerably.