[Corallodendron monospermum (Gaud.) Kuntze; Erythrina monosperma Gaud., non Lam.; E. sandwicensis f. alba St. John; E. s. f. lutea St. John; E. s. var. luteosperma St. John; E. tahitensis sensu auct., non Nadeaud, pro parte (as to plants from Hawai‘i)]
(end) Wiliwili
Trees up to 15 m tall, bark reddish, papery, shallowly fissured; trunk and branches sparsely armed with conical prickles. Leaves deciduous (usually absent when flowering), pinnately trifoliolate, terminal blade deltate to rhombic-oblate, wider than long, 4-10 cm long, 6-15 cm wide, apex obtuse to rounded, base truncate or rounded, lateral leaflets ovate, 4-8 cm long, 4-9 cm wide, apex acute to rounded, base asymmetrical (cuneate on 1 side, rounded on the other), upper surface glabrous, lower surface densely stellate-tomentose, petiole of terminal leaflet 8-15 cm long, petiolules of lateral leaflets ca. 5 mm long, stipules subulate, ca. 5 mm long, deciduous, paired glandular stipels on petiole below terminal and lateral leaflets. Inflorescence axis horizontal, 10-15 cm long, flowers on distal Vi only, pedicels 3-10 mm long; calyx fusiform in bud, 1.5-2 cm long, with 5 apical knobs, splitting open on dorsal side as corolla emerges, thus becoming spathaceous and thrust beneath corolla, thin and chartaceous, densely brownish felty stellate tomentose; corolla usually orange, sometimes yellow, white, or pale green (all colors present in some populations), standard broadly ovate to elliptic, clavate, reflexed and erect, 4-5 cm long (incl. claw) and equally wide, wings elliptic, somewhat hooded, 1.5-2 cm long, 0.8-1 cm wide, keel petals distinct, elliptic, hooded, slightly shorter than wings and about as wide; stamens monadelphous, 4-5 cm long, the adaxial stamen distinct in upper 2/3, the other 9 distinct in upper lA; ovary stipitate, 2-2.5 cm long, stellate pubescent; style fili-form, 2-2.5 cm long; stigma capitate. Pods pendent, subligneous, 1-3-seeded, slightly constricted between the seeds, endocarp papery. Seeds red to yellowish orange, ca. cm long, ca. 1 cm wide, hilum black, persistent on pods long after maturity. [2n = 42*.] Locally common in dry forest, up to 600 m, on leeward slopes of all of the main islands.—Plate 91.
Erythrina sandwicensis is closely related both to the Tahitian endemic E. tahitensis Nadeaud, and to E. velutina Willd., widespread in northern South America and the West Indies. The striking flower color polymorphism in many Hawaiian populations is probably unique in the genus. The soft, light wood was and still is used for the outriggers of traditional Hawaiian canoes. It also was formerly used for fishnet floats and surfboards. The seeds are strung into lei.