Canoe Plants and Olona
One of the plants possibly stowed in the voyaging canoes of Polynesian settlers was Olona. It being endemic to the Hawaii Islands makes one wonder if Olona was introduced or already here when they arrived. Either way, this wood shrub was a blessing to their way of life. Early Hawaiians grew Olona for cordage, and it was considered one of the finest grades of fibers anywhere.
Olona (Touchardia latifolia) grew in mesic interior valleys near streams, and gullies of low elevation forests between 250 and 3,000 feet. Similar to many Hawaiian plants that never produced defense mechanisms, the Olona does not have stinging needles even though it is a member of the nettle family. The leaves are large, 10 to 15 inches long and 5 to 10 inches wide, and green on both sides. The flowers are 3 to 5 inches long, less than 1 inch in diameter, and in dense clusters. The fruit is orange and fleshy.
Hawaiians grew it in patches where they could encourage it to grow straight and tall and reduce branching. In a year to eighteen months the plants were 5 to 10 feet tall and mature enough to harvest and strip the bark. The bark of olona slips off easily, revealing the inner bark or bast, which is made up of fine quality fibers that are durable and many times stronger than other fibers.
The outer bark was carefully stripped off with opihi (limpet) shells, soaked, hung to dry, bleached in the sunlight, and then twisted into cordage of varying thicknesses. The whitish cordage was soft, pliable, strong, light weight, did not kink or stretch, and resisted breaking down from exposure to sea water. To prolong its life, it was often treated with kukui oil.
Olona was used for fishing nets and carrying baskets (koko). It provided the backing for royal feather cloaks (ahu`ula), feather helmets (mahiole), and for ti leaf capes (ahu la`i). The cordage was used for tying adz heads to the handles, and fashioning weapons. It was used for stitching, stringing, wrapping, and to tie off the umbilical cord after a birth. Its usefulness made it an important bartering chip in the Hawaiian community, and in a civilization without metal it was a true blessing in their lives.
