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Alyxia stellata

Maire Rākau

Alyxia

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Leaves, flowers and fruit - Rarotonga	49KB
Image:	Leaves and fruit - Rarotonga	60KB
Image:	3 leaves at a node - Mitiaro	62KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Alyxia

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Maire Rākau (RR), Maire Kō‘atu (MG), Maire (MK MT); Other Polynesian - Lau Maile / Lau Mai‘e / Nau (SAM); Maile (HAW, diff. species)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE New Caledonia - Societies - Pitcairn

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group only - Rarotonga, Mangaia, Mauke & Mitiaro only; Land, mountains (+++) (Ridge forest)

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Adornment

KEY FEATURES: Slender-branched shrub, upright to sprawling, to 3m. LEAVES: opposite (sometimes threes); matt green; narrow-oval to oval, to 6x2cm; when folded, break with audible "snap" and exude white sap; base tapering, tip slightly protruding and obtuse; stalk short. FLOWERS on axial stalk, 2-4; small, 7mmØ; petals 5, white, wide-oval. FRUIT ovoid or strongly constricted into 2-3 ovoid segments, each to 15x10(LxØ); ripen black. On Rarotonga a shrub with opposite leaves sometimes has some branches with 3 leaves per node; on the makatea islands most plants have 3 leaves per node, and the branches are much longer and climbing.

SIMILAR SPECIES: None.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+++	++++	-	+++	+++	-	-		-

Northern Group: -
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Alyxia stellata (J.R.Forster & G.Forster)
SYNONYMS: Alyxia stellata var. stellata; Alyxia elliptica [sensu TC/GW]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ASTERIDAE; Gentianales; APOCYNACEAE

More Information

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -. Comment: NBSAP - Mitiaro (3 of 4 wild plants)
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Adornment. Comments: Leaves and bark made into fragrant ei. Exported from Ma‘uke to Hawai‘i (Whistler 1990); Exported since the mid-1980s (McCormack & Kunzle 1995).

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.4/057 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.287 IE Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.88 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.374b Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands
p.120 McCormack/Kunzle - Rarotonga's Mountain Tracks and Plants

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM03a, zD02, zupD06a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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