Paoa ka lawai`a i ka `olelo ia o ka `awa.
(Unlucky is fishing when `awa is discussed.)
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English name: |
Kava
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Family name:
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Piperaceae
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Scientific name:
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Piper methysticum
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Introduced by:
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Polynesian introduction
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Origin:
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Pacific Islands
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DISTRIBUTION
Hawaiian tradition gives it a status of being indigenous. It is believed that it was brought to Kauai first from Tahiti, then brought to Oahu and spread throughout the other islands.
HABITAT
`Awa is a species of the Hawaiian wet forests. It grows well when there is a constant moisture and not too much sun. Also prefers rich moist loamy soil.
CHARACTERISTICS
Stem:`Awa is an attractive shrub that can grow to more than three meters. Its a hardy slow-growing perennial that's cultivated for its rootstock called stump. The stems are green, jointed with knobby or swollen nodes.
Leaves: The leaves are heart-shaped, about 5-8 inches long with 1 inch leaf stalks. The leaves are palmately veined, that is 11-13 prominent veins originate from the base of the leaf.
Flowers: Male and female flowers are borne in separate clusters on different plants (dioecious species).
Root: The average fresh weight of `awa's root system is 1 kg at 10 months old. The rootstock color varies from white to dark yellow depending upon the amount of psychoactive kava lactones that are contine din a lemon-yellow resin.
ECONOMIC VALUES
`Awa was used mainly as a narcotic drink that induces relaxation and sleep. The leaves, bark and roots are used as medicine for general debility, weary muscles, chills, colds, headaches, lung and other respiratory diseases, displacement of womb, congestion of urinary tract, rheumatism, asthma. It is also used for several rituals or ceremonial purposes such as: weaning of a child, offering to Laka, the goddess of hula, expiration of sickness, divination, and mediumism practise.
`Awapuhi lau pala wale.
(Ginger leaves yellow quickly.)
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Common name: | `awapuhi-kuahiwi, `opuhi |
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English name: |
Wild ginger
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Family name:
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Zingiberaceae | |
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Scientific name:
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Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Smith
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Introduced by:
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Early Polynesians (this was part of the
original species introduced by the Polynesians as they came to Hawaii.) |
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Origin:
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Native of India
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DISTRIBUTION
Polynesian introduced, a native of India, distributed eastward through Polynesia.
HABITAT
Awapuhi grows best in lower parts of damp, open forests and can form continuous ground cover. It needs warm, wet and shaded places. It prefers fairly open, darkish regions on windward sides of our islands where rainfall is plentiful. It often grows on abandoned taro terraces near Hawaiian village sites.
CHARACTERISTICS
Stem: The awapuhi forms clumps of 1 to 2 feet tall plants, has large, aromatic, knobbed underground stems (rhizomes).
Leaves: It has about 12 narrow leaves 4 to 8 inches long by 2 inches wide, arranged alternately along the vegetative stems.
Flower: In late summer, a foot tall flowering stem rises from the rhizome to form a head inflorescence. This flower cluster is oblong in shape, consisting of overlapping bracts (modified leaves) green, tinged with pink to red, which hide small inconspicuous yellowish flowers that open a few at a time. The mature flower head contains sudsy, slimy juice that Hawaiians used for hair shampooing or for quenching thirst. Awapuhi becomes dormant in the winter for about 3 to 4 months after flowering, with the leaves turning yellow and dying. New leaves form from the rhizomes in spring.
ECONOMIC VALUES
Hawaiians used the awapuhi rhizomes to scent their tapa. Medicinally it was used for bruises, cuts and sores; for headaches, toothaches, ringworm and other skin diseases, for achy joints, and for sprains. Several medicinal recipes are in Beatrice H. Krauss' Plants in Hawaiian Medicine 2001 book.
He noni no Kaualehu, he puhai a`a.
(It is a noni tree of Kaualehu whose roots are in shallow ground.)
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English name: |
Indian mulberry
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Family name:
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Morinda citrifolia | |
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Scientific name:
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Rubiaceae (Coffee family)
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Introduced by:
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Polynesian introduction
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Origin:
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Asia, Australia and Pacific islands
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HABITAT
In Hawaii, it is often found growing near sites of ancient houses between the shore and lowland woods. It can grow almost anywhere and has exceedingly wide distribution, being found in lowlands throughout warmer regions of the Pacific. Its very versatile when it comes to where it can grow or thrive.
CHARACTERISTICS
Leaves: Noni is an evergreen shrub or tree with shiny dark green leaves on greenish angular branches. The leaves are opposite (borne in pairs at the nodes of stem), ovate in shape, 8 inches or more in length, deeply veined and short-stemmed.
Flowers: The many flowers are formed in a globose head about 1 inch long. Each flower is white, tubular, about 0.33 inch long that is complete, perfect and regular.
Fruit: The flowers are so close to each other that as the fruit develops, the individual flowers form fruitlets that are separated be hexagonal outlines. The fruit often appear "warty" because of uneven growth of individual fruitlets. Ripe fruit are whitish yellow, insipid or unpleasant tasting and offensive- smelling, especially when it is overripe. The seeds are oblong triangular and reddish brown in color, each with a bladder air sac which make the seeds buoyant/floating. It can be cultivated by seeds or cuttings.
ECONOMIC VALUES
Noni is regarded as a famine food in Hawaii because of its disagreeable taste. It can be eaten raw or cooked. The bark and the roots yield red and yellow dyes respectively. Its active ingredient is an alkaloid xeronine which gives it some insecticidal properties. It was applied to human head to rid it of head lice. Currently its extracted juice is used as a remedy for high blood pressure. The leaves and bark are pounded, cooked and strained and drank as a tonic. Its also used a a cure for tuberculosis, rheumatism, arthritis, diabetes, and skin diseases. The overripe fruit is used as poultice.
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English name: |
Mountain apple
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Family name:
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Myrtaceae (Myrtle family) | |
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Scientific name:
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Syzygium malaccense
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Introduced by:
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Polynesian introduction
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Origin:
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India and Malaya, Pacific islands
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HABITAT
`Ohi`a`ai grows in shady valleys to an altitude of about 1800 feet. It can form groves in the forest. After contact, people planted this species in their yards or private gardens.
CHARACTERISTICS
Stem: `Ohi`a`ai is a perennial tree that reaches a height of 50 feet or less. The bark is gray, smooth and mottled.
Leaves: The leaves are dark green, shiny, and oval.
Flowers: Around March and April, it produces short tuft flowers on short stem. The flowers are red (cerise) pompom looking because of the showy stamens.
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Fruits: The fruits, about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide are crisp, pure white, juicy flesh surrounded by thin deep-crimson skin and enclosing a large, single seed. The pulp tastes slightly sweet and is very refreshing. It has been reported that there is a white-flowered, white-fruited form of `ohi`a`ai with no seeds, called `ohi`a-kea.
ECONOMIC VALUES
The fruit is eaten raw and pickled. Eating large quantities can cause diarrhea and Hawaiians have learned to dry the fruit to eliminate this disadvantage. It used a s medicine for thrush and other children's diseases; for deep cuts and open wounds; bad breath with white coating on the tongue; and chewing a piece of the bark for sore throat remedy. The sap from the cut end of the leaf petiole can be used to cure cold sores inside the mouth.
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English name: |
Turmeric
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Family name:
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Zingiberaceae | |
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Scientific name:
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Curcuma domestica
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Introduced by:
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Polynesian introduction
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Origin:
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India
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DISTRIBUTION
`Olena is widely dispersed, from Southeast Asia, Oceania and Australia. It is cultivated extensively in India and used there both as a condiment and a dye. More than 54 species of Curcuma are known from India to Australia.
HABITAT
It is found in the lower forest zone as a wild species, but was formerly planted as part of the horticultural complex. Hawaiians also planted it near their houses for medicinal purposes. It grows best in the presence of ample moisture and fertile land, as damp forested valleys.
CHARACTERISTICS
Stem: `Olena is a monocot herb with underground stems called rhizomes, from which cluster of several leaves arise.
Leaves: The leaves come up in the spring and die back in the fall. Overlapping petioles (leaf stalks) 8 inches long or more form a false stem that bear light green thin blades, 8 x 3 inches or larger.
Flower: A cylindrical flower cluster develops from the center. It bears large, pale green, pouchlike curved bracts, each with two or more pale yellow flowers, except for tip of cluster where only pink bracts without flowers exist. Seed production is rare, but plant propagation is possible from the buds on rhizome nodes that sprout into young plants.
Two kinds of `olena are present in the gardens today. One is the common variety with green stem and yellow root flesh. The other has a reddish brown stem and the flesh of the root is greenish yellow, this is called `olena maku`e.
ECONOMIC VALUES
The" root" (rhizome)of turmeric has been used as a spice and dye for some foods, as in curry powder, and as a dye for cloth in India, where about 60,000 acres of the plant are cultivated. Turmeric paper is a pH indicator, useful fiber can be extracted from the leaf midribs.
In Hawaii, it was valued ceremonially for sprinkling to purify objects, things, places and people. Before the abolition of old rituals, the pounded root was mixed with sea water and this was sprinkled where ever there was need to exorcise evil. The steamed root was eaten as medicine and source of deep orange dye for tapa. The raw root yielded a juice that was an earache remedy.
In Society Islands, the main use of `olena was to produce a deep yellow dye with which dancers stained their bodies. The steamed root pounded and mixed with coconut milk, was relished as a tasty sauce for octopus and squid.
