Delissea undulata Gaudich.

Genus: Delissea section Delissea, the tree-like Delissea.

Range: West Maui; cliffs. Plants formerly included in D. undulata that occur on Kaua'i, Ni'ihau, and Hawai'i have been transferred to D. kauaiensis, D. niihauensis and D. argutidentata respectively. USGS map shows larger circumscription.

Status: Extinct. Note, however, that prior to Lammers, 2005, D. argutidentata and D. kauaiensis were both treated as D. undulata and both are still extant.

Growth form: Tree, unbranched, 2 to 10 m tall. In spite of this height, Rock (1913a) says the stem rarely reaches two inches in diameter.

D. undulata is the type species for Delissea. This due to the tortuous story of the piecemeal publication of the of Gaudichaud's notes. The journey lasted from 1817 to 1820, but the publication of the notes was done in a series of fascicles which lasted from 1826 to 1830 - though the entire series usually carries the date of the earliest fascicle (1826). The fascicle that includes the Hawaiian Islands was published in 1829. However, the accompanying plates were issued in a different order. St. John claims evidence that Plate 78, the plate for D. undulata was issued with the first fascicle and thus being the first published Delissea is the type.

How to identify: Presumed extinct. The species complex that includes D. undulata, D. niihauensis, D. kauaiensis and D. argutidentata are the tree-like Delissea. They are distinguishable by the locations. D. undulata is from West Maui.

Sources: Lammers, 2005 saw the break-up of species complex that had included all the tree-like Delissea into the following four species: D. argutidentata from Hawai'i, D. kauaiensis from Kaua'i, D. niihauensis from Ni'ihau and D. undulata restricted to Maui.

Gaudichaud's initial description and its derivatives were made from a plant collected from a shore excursion at Lahaina (Aug 17-25, 1819) in West Maui (Harold St. John, 1946, Endemism in the Hawaiian Flora..., p. 279).

• Gaudichaud, 1826;
• G. Don, 1834; (adds nothing to Gaudichaud's description)
• De Candolle, 1838; (extends description, but based on Gaudichaud's image)

The following descriptions include the broader conscription where all tree-like Delissea from all islands are described under Delissea undulata.

• Gray, 1861 (includes D. subcordata. See Rock's commentary on page 343 concerning this mistake);
• Mann, 1868 (actually Delissea niihauensis);
• Wawra, 1873 (var. serrulata is Cyanea elliptica);
• Hillebrand, 1888 (discusses plants from both Maui, D. undulata, Ni'ihau, =D. niihauensis, and Kaua'i, but since mentions Remy this is probably Ni'ihau.);
• Heller, 1897 (like Gray, includes D. subcordata. Also, only discusses a population in Kauai, thus actually D. kauaiensis);
• Rock, 1913 (Plate XVII shows an image of D. argutidentata as D. undulata);
• Rock, 1919 (includes plants from Kauai == D. kauaiensis, Hawai'i == D. argutidentata and Ni'ihau == D. niihauensis);
• Wimmer, 1943;
• Wagner et al., 1990 (in part of subsp. undulata);
• Lammers, 2005.