Alahe'e

Psydrax odorata, known in Hawaiian as alaheʻe, is an evergreen shrub or small tree of the Rubiaceae reaching 2-9 m in height with a spread of 1-2 m. The species is widely distributed across the tropical Pacific, occurring in New Guinea, Australia, and many Pacific island groups; in the Hawaiian Islands it grows on the Big Island, Lānaʻi, and Oʻahu in dry shrubland and dry to mesic forest from sea level to about 825 m elevation. The opposite, simple leaves are elliptic to obovate, up to 9 cm long, leathery and glossy dark green above with conspicuous interpetiolar stipules. Clusters of small, fragrant, bisexual white flowers are borne in axillary cymes and develop into nearly globose black drupes about 1 cm wide, each containing two pyrenes. The wood is exceptionally dense and hard.