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Homalium acuminatum

Mato

Cook Islands Homalium

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Leaves, flowers and multi-trunk	75KB
Image:	Flowers - overview and detail	87KB
Image:	Tree-top on mountainside after storm	106KB
Image:	Tree-trunks in the forest interior	82KB
Article:	Mato - Cyclones Make it Flower Gerald McCormack, April 2005	Read

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Cook Islands Homalium

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Mato (RR), Moto (MG)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Cook Islands (Rarotonga, Mangaia)

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native, Endemic of Cooks, 2-island; Land, lowlands - mountains (++++)

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Formerly for lumber

KEY FEATURES: Tree to 20m. TRUNK one to a few, with narrow (2-5mm) horizontal ridges (lenticels). LEAVES alternate, oval, to 18x9cm, edge with a few rounded teeth, tip obtuse to sharp, base obtuse, green usually with black spots (dead tissue). FLOWERS terminal or along branches mainly after storm damage; dense cluster of spikes ~10cm each with a few to 50 flowers; each 8mmØ, cream, with several hairy sepals and petals. SEED in base of shed flower, ovoid, 3x2mm, brown.

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

Homalium acuminatum Cheeseman
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); DILLENIIDAE; Violales; FLACOURTIACEAE

More Information

GENERAL NOTE: There are several species of Homalium in the South Pacific. Fiji has four and all are endemic (Homalium laurifolium, Homalium niten, Homalium pallidum (Lau group only) and Homalium vitiense. Homalium whitmeeanum is in Samoa and Tonga, if Homalium tongaense is not a different species. There are other species in French Polynesia and one in Pitcairn. [from various sources, G.McCormack 4/2005]

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.280 IE Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.77 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.378d Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands
p.106 McCormack/Kunzle - Rarotonga's Mountain Tracks and Plants

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM03a, zD02, zupD05a

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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