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Sideroxylon polynesicum

Sideroxylon polynesicum, the keahi or island nesoluma, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapotaceae. It is found in the Cook, Tubuai, and Hawaiian Islands. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Last revised
Aug 1, 2026
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Sideroxylon polynesicum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Sapotaceae
Genus: Sideroxylon
Species:
S. polynesicum
Binomial name
Sideroxylon polynesicum
(Hillebr.) Smedmark & Anderb.
Synonyms
  • Chrysophyllum polynesicum Hillebr.
  • Isonandra polynesica (Hillebr.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex Drake2
  • Nesoluma polynesicum (Hillebr.) Baill.
The fruit is inedible and very sticky source ↗

Sideroxylon polynesicum, the keahi or island nesoluma, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapotaceae. It is found in the Cook (New Zealand), Tubuai (French Polynesia), and Hawaiian Islands (United States).1 It is threatened by habitat loss.1

Taxonomy

This species was first described as Chrysophyllum polynesicum by William Hillebrand in 1888, two years after his demise.3 Then Henri Ernest Baillon transferred it to the genus Nesoluma, all of whose constituent species were later incorporated into the genus Sideroxylon as a result of phylogenetic analyses.4

References

References

  1. World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Nesoluma polynesicum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1998 e.T32010A9673343. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T32010A9673343.en. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. Govaerts, R. et al. (2021). World Checklist of Sapotaceae. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; https://wcsp.science.kew.org/namedetail.do?name_id=348468 Retrieved 26 October 2021
  3. Hillebrand, W. (†) (1888). Flora of the Hawaiian Islands: a description of their phanerogams and vascular cryptogams. London: Williams & Norgate; New York: B. Westermann & Co.; Heidelberg: Carl Winter. p. 277.
  4. Smedmark, J.E.E.; Anderberg, A.A. [in Swedish] (2007). "Boreotropical migration explains hybridization between geographically distant lineages in the pantropical clade Sideroxyleae (Sapotaceae)". American Journal of Botany. 94 (9): 1502. doi:10.3732/ajb.94.9.1491.