(Multi-Purpose Office Building)

Manele, Sapindus saponaria L., is an indigenous member of the family Sapindaceae. It grows up to 25 meters tall with pale brown bark that's fissured and in the older trees comes off in huge, thick scales, exposing the smooth inner layers. The tree is also deciduous, and looses its leaves in the winter months, but as the young leaves come out before all the old ones drop, it is hardly bare for any length of time. The leaves of the manele are light green, and the small flowers are a yellowish color. The berries are round and two or three may be found attached to each other with a parchment-like covering. Owing to the ravages of a caterpillar that feeds on the flowers, very few actually bear fruit.

Manele occurs in Mexico and South America west across the Pacific Basin onto New Caledonia and also in Africa. In Hawaii the species is scattered in mesic forest, from 900-1370 meters elevation as on Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and Kilauea, Hawaii. The seeds are round, brownish-black and hard, and were strung into lei and necklaces by the early Hawaiians. The wood is whitish and of medium strength.