Freycinetia arborea, ʻIeʻie, is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to the Pacific Islands. ʻIeʻie is found in moist forest on the Hawaiian, Marquesas, Austral, Society, and Cook Islands. It grows into the forest canopy, attaching itself to a host tree using aerial roots.[1] It may also grow as a sprawling tangle on the forest floor.[2] The shiny green leaves have pointed ends and are spiny on the lower side of the midrib and along the edges.[3] Leaves measure 40cm-80cmcm (20inches-30inchescm) long and 1cm-3cmcm (00inches-01inchescm) wide, and are spirally arranged around the ends of branches. Flowers form on spike-like inflorescences at the end of branches, and are either staminate or pistillate. Staminate spikes are yellowish-white and up to 10cm (00inches) in length. Pistillate spikes are 3cm-4cmcm (01inches-02inchescm) but elongate to 7.5cm-9.5cmcm (03inches-03.7inchescm) once fruit are produced. Three to four spikes are surrounded by orange-salmon bracts. Fruit is 1cm (00inches) long and contains many 1.5mm seeds. The bracts and fruit of the ʻieʻie were a favorite food of the ʻōʻū (Psittirostra psittacea), an extinct Hawaiian honeycreeper that was formerly a principal seed dispersal vector for plants with small seeded, fleshy fruits in low elevation forests.[4] It is also a favored food of the ʻalalā (Corvus hawaiiensis), which is currently extinct in the wild.[5]
Native Hawaiians plaited ʻieʻie into hīnaʻi hoʻomoe iʻa (fish baskets), hīnaʻi hoʻoluʻuluʻu (fish traps). The vine (or rather the split aerial roots) also became the framework for helmets worn by the aliʻi (mahiole iʻe).[6]