Vavaea amicorum Benth.
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Authority
Smith, Albert C. 1952. Studies of Pacific Island plants, X. The Meliaceae of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 30: 469-522.
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Family
Meliaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type locality: Vavau. Tonga; type collected by Barclay, cited below.
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Description
Description - It is usually a slender or shrubby tree, up to 12 m. in height, rarely attaining 20 m., and with a trunk diameter of 20 cm. or perhaps more. The flowers are fragrant, with white to pale yellow petals and filaments; the fruit is at first green, then purple, and black at full maturity.
Local Names and Uses - In Tonga: Ahivoa, yahivau; in Fiji: Thevua, sevua. Less commonly used (and perhaps not too reliable) local names in Fiji are: Mariko, wawaro (upland Viti Levu); ruru (Koro); tarau (Fulanga). In Fiji the species is also known as false sandalwood, because of its fragrant wood. The Fijians use the wood as house timbers or as fence posts.
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Discussion
Seemann was of the opinion that the Tongan V. amicorum did not occur in Fiji, and he described two new Fijian species, V. harveyi and F. vitiemis. The second of these was reduced to synonymy by de Candolle and has not been taken up by subsequent authors; it differs from the Tongan plant, according to Seemann, in its completely glabrous and almost pruinose leaves and its glabrate calyx. Examination of the two types concerned and the extensive series of specimens cited above confirms the current opinion that the most common Vavaea in Fiji represents V. amicorum, the only species occurring in Tonga. Variability in degree of leaf-pubescence is demonstrated by some of the Tongan specimens. For instance, Parks, 16299, a fruiting specimen, has the leaves quite uniformly soft-pilose beneath, very much as in V. harveyi, although in other respects it unmistakably represents V. amicorum. Parks 16217, a flowering specimen from the same locality, has the leaves essentially glabrous and typical except those on the Arnold Arboretum sheet, which resemble the leaves of No. 16299. The Exploring Expedition material (doubtless from more than one plant) shows similar variability in indument. It seems that the degree of pubescence is unreliable in this species and cannot, in itself, be used as the basis of any subspecific nomenclatural categories. The Fijian material from high elevations is less uniform (in leaf-shape and venation) than that from more typical habitats such as beaches and lowland thickets, but I cannot discern tangible characters for further division of the material