Canoe Plants and Uala
‘Uala is a member of the morning glory family, and was brought by Polynesian settlers in their voyaging canoes as an important dietary staple. This sweet potato required less care to grow than kalo and would mature and be ready to eat in much less time. It was planted from sea level to 1,500 feet elevation, and could grow in areas of poor soil or limited rainfall for a drought-resistant vegetable.
‘Uala (Ipomoea batatas) is a vigorous plant with a vine that grows up to 12 feet long. The leaves are dark green, heart-shaped or five-lobed, and growing close to the ground. They are around 3 to 5 inches long and veined on the underside. The tubular flowers are narrow at the base spreading wider at the top, and lavender to pink in color. The large tubers range in color from purple to pink to orange to white.
The Polynesian settlers brought only a few ‘Uala varieties to Hawaii, but because the cultivation of ‘Uala was one of the few agricultural activities shared by both men and women, early Hawaiians increased the number to around 200 different varieties. Both the greens and the tubers of the sweet potato were eaten. The leaves were usually steamed or boiled, while the tubers were cooked in an imu, and then mashed and stirred with water to make sweet potato poi. The mashed sweet potatoes were also mixed with Coconut cream, wrapped in Ki leaves, and cooked in an imu to make a pudding called piele ‘uala.
The ‘Uala was also used as food for livestock, and used by fishermen to attract baitfish. It also had various medicinal uses in ancient Hawaii, including as a treatment for asthma (hano) and chest congestion, as a laxative, to induce vomiting, for sore throat, and as a tonic during pregnancy to increase lactation.
Canoe Plants and Uhi
The Uhi is one of several yams and sweet potatoes brought to Hawaii by voyaging Polynesians in their canoes. Uhi is a vine that grows in moist forests using tree trunks and branches for support, and only takes a year’s cycle to grow. The vine sprouts in the Spring, grows during the warm Summer months, matures in the Fall, and withers away in the Winter. The large tubers continue to grow underground, and new vine shoots appear again in the Spring.
Uhi (Dioscorea alata) has light green, heart-shaped leaves 3 to 6 inches long growing wing-like on opposite sides of the stem. The stem is square and twines to the right. The flowers are small, with a yellow or yellow-green calyx and no petals. The edible tuber of the yam forms after the female flower is fertilized. Depending on the variety, tubers usually elongated, sometimes lobed, and come in various colors. Two of the varieties are Uhi ke‘oke‘o (white yam) which is white inside and out, and Uhi ‘ula‘ula (red yam) which has a red skin and pinkish flesh.
Like kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro) and ‘uala (Ipomoea batatas, sweet potato), the tuber was cooked in an imu (underground oven) by early Hawaiians. Uhi was considered inferior in taste and texture, and was not made into poi, so they preferred eating it while still warm. It became a major crop in the 1800′s, and Kamehameha the Great planted a large yam field (pa’uhi) in 1810 to provide visiting ships with an easily stored food supply for their voyages.
Canoe Plants and Ulu
‘Ulu was one of the plants considered important enough to the Polynesian settlers to have stowed in their voyaging canoes. And once in Hawaii, ‘Ulu became one of the most useful trees for early Hawaiians, as they ate it, made medicine with it, fed their animals, and carved with it. The trees are usually found at elevations lower than 1000 feet, and finding a grove of these trees usually signifies an area of ancient settlement.
‘Ulu (Artocarpus altilis) is an evergreen tree that grows to heights of 40 to 70 feet, and branches that reach out to a span of 30 to 60 feet. The leaves are a glossy, deep green, deeply lobed, and one to three feet long. Both male and female flowers occur separately on the same tree. The male flower consists of hundreds of tiny flowers clustered to about one inch in diameter and eight inches long at the branch tips. Female inflorescences consist of 1500–2000 reduced flowers attached to a spongy core. The flowers fuse together and develop into the fleshy, edible portion of the fruit. Fruits are variable in shape, size, and surface texture, which varies from smoothly to slightly bumpy or spiny.
The ‘Ulu begins bearing fruit in 3 to 5 years, and is a high carbohydrate vegetable, that is a nutritious source of calcium, vitamins A and B, and no fat. A breadfruit pudding treat known as piele ‘ulu was made by mashing the flesh of the fruit with cream of coconut (nui) and then wrapping the mixture in leaves of ki, and baking it in an underground oven (imu).
In ancient Hawai’i it had many uses. The light wood of the breadfruit tree was carved into small canoes, surfboards (papa he‘e nalu), poi-pounding boards (papa ku‘i ‘ai), and drums. The inflorescence were used as a fine sandpaper to polish wooden bowls. The male flower produced a yellow to brown dye used for decorating kapa. All parts of the breadfruit tree exude a sticky sap which was used as a caulk for the seams of canoes, and a glue to hold together the ipu of the double-ground drum (ipu pa‘i). Breadfruit sap was also smeared on branches to catch brightly-colored birds sought for their plumage used to make various items of Hawaiian featherwork like royal capes and cloaks (‘ahu ‘ula) and other symbols of chiefly rank. The sap was also be used as a chewing gum, and to treat wounds and skin rashes as well as infected sores. An immature fruit was used in the bowling game of ‘ulu maika, where two sticks were placed some distance apart, and the round fruit was rolled along the ground in an attempt to have it roll between the two sticks.
Canoe Plants and Pia
Pia migrated to Hawaii in the voyaging canoes of early Polynesian settlers. This plant, commonly called Polynesian arrowroot, prefers moist, low elevation habitats up to about 1,000 feet, and early Hawaiians cultivated it alongside lo`i kalo (taro ponds) and in village gardens.
Pia (Tacca leontopetaloides) is a flowering plant in the yam family, and is best known for the nutritious starch extracted from the round tuber. The tubers are around 2 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, with a brown skin and white interior, emerging from a thick rhizome. The bulbous tubers give rise to stems with leaves that are broad and oblong – from 10 to 24 inches long and up to 45 inches wide. The leaves die back during autumn and winter and the tuber lies dormant.
In spring new leaves arise and more tubers are formed. The stalk is topped by an inflorescence producing several dozen green and purplish flowers surrounded by green bracts. Numerous threadlike bractlets, each 4 to 8 inches long, also hang down from the flowerhead.
In ancient Hawai‘i Pia was used for both food and medicinal purposes. The tubers were grated and then allowed to soak in a calabash of fresh water. When the starch settled to the bottom, the bitter water was poured off, and fresh water was added. This process of repeatedly rinsing with fresh water to remove the bitterness was known as hulialana. When the bitterness was gone, the starch was formed into cakes and spread on flat rocks to dry in the sun. Traditionally, pia was then mixed with coconut milk and kō (cane sugar), and steamed, boiled, or baked into a dessert pudding called haupia.
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.
Canoe Plants and Olena
‘Olena was one of the plants brought to Hawai’i by early Polynesians in their voyaging canoes. Its common name is Turmeric, and it is a member of the ginger family. The Hawaiians used the bright orange rhizome to make a golden yellow dye to color kapa cloth, and utilized the astringent and antibacterial properties of the plant for medicinal uses.
‘Olena (Curcuma longa) grows in moist forested valleys, up to altitudes of 3,000 feet. After a dormant stage during the winter, new leaves rise up from the rhizome in the spring. The leaves grow directly from the underground root without any stem, and are about 8 inches long by 3 inches wide, with the plant rising to about 2 to 4 feet high. At the end of summer, cylindrical flower cluster rise separately from the leaf stalks, and pale yellow and white flowers blossom. But, it is the rhizome of the ‘Olena which was precious to early Hawaiians.
In ancient Hawai‘i, ‘Olena was mixed with sea water and used in religious ceremonies to purify objects, people, and places, and infuse mana (power). The dark yellow or orange rhizomes were also used as a dye for malo (male loin cloths) that were reserved for ali‘i (chiefs and royalty). And ‘Olena-scented kapa was placed on the hula altar as a symbol of enlightenment.
Medicinally, the roots were pounded and pressed to extract a juice that was helpful in earaches (pepeiao ‘eha), bladder problems, and clearing sinuses. The astringent qualities of ‘Olena are also useful in cases of tuberculosis, bronchitis, colds, and asthma (hano). Its use enhanced the immune system by purifying the blood.
