Leptecophylla tameiameiae explained

Leptecophylla tameiameiae, known as Hawaiian: pūkiawe or Hawaiian: maiele in the Hawaiian language, is a species of flowering plant that is native to the Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands.[1] The specific epithet honors King Kamehameha I, who formed the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. It grows as a tree up to 4.6m (15.1feet) tall in forests and as a shrub 0.9- in height elsewhere. Its small needle-like leaves are whitish underneath, dark green above. The round berries range in color from white through shades of pink to red. Pūkiawe is found in a variety of habitats in Hawaii at elevations of 15–, including mixed mesic forests, wet forests, bogs, and alpine shrublands.[2]

Ecology

Hawaiian: Pūkiawe is a hardy, adaptive, and morphologically variable plant that occupies a variety of ecosystems, from dry forest up to alpine bogs and shrublands.[3] Despite being common, it is difficult to propagate, taking months to years for seeds to germinate and growing very slowly.[4]

The Hawaiian: [[Nene_(bird)|nēnē]] and other birds eat the berries of this shrub and thus distribute it.

Human Uses

Native Hawaiians would inhale ground leaves of the Hawaiian: pūkiawe to treat congestion, and used the fruit to make lei.

Hawaiian nobility used the smoke of Hawaiian: pūkiawe to modify their mana before interacting with people of lower caste.[5] The bodies of executed criminals were cremated on pyres of Hawaiian: pūkiawe to drive the mana from their bones and ensure their ghosts were harmless.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Styphelia tameiameiae . Hawaiian Native Plant Propagation Database . . 2009-11-18.
  2. Web site: Pukiawe . Hawaiian Ethnobotany Online Database . . 2009-11-18.
  3. Book: Hall . John B. . A hiker's guide to trailside plants in Hawaiʻi . 2008 . Mutual Publishing . Honolulu, Hawaiʻi . 978-1-56647-872-4 .
  4. Web site: Elliott . Daniela Dutra . Tamashiro . Shari Y. . Native Plants Hawaii - Viewing Plant : Leptecophylla tameiameiae . nativeplants.hawaii.edu . University of Hawai‘i . 11 December 2021.
  5. Book: Wagner . Warren L. . Herbst . Derral R. . Sohmer . S.H. . Mill . Susan W. . Wilson-Ramsey . Yevonn . Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaiʻi . 1990 . University of Hawaii Press . Honolulu . 9780824811525 . 590–591 .