Leptecophylla tameiameiae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Leptecophylla
Species:
L. tameiameiae
Binomial name
Leptecophylla tameiameiae
(Cham. & Schltdl.) C.M.Weiller
Synonyms

Cyathodes tameiameiae Cham. & Schltdl.[1]
Styphelia douglasii (A.Gray) Skottsb.[2]
Styphelia tameiameiae (Cham.) F.Muell.[1]

Leptecophylla tameiameiae, known as pūkiawe or maiele in the Hawaiian language, is a species of flowering plant that is native to the Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands.[3] The specific epithet honors King Kamehameha I, who formed the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. It grows as a tree up to 4.6 m (15 ft) tall in forests and as a shrub 0.9–3 m (3.0–9.8 ft) 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.[2] Pūkiawe is found in a variety of habitats in Hawaii at elevations of 15–3,230 m (49–10,597 ft), including mixed mesic forests, wet forests, bogs, and alpine shrublands.[4]

Ecology

Pūkiawe is a hardy, adaptive, and morphologically variable plant that occupies a variety of ecosystems, from dry forest up to alpine bogs and shrublands.[5] Despite being common, it is difficult to propagate, taking months to years for seeds to germinate and growing very slowly.[6]

The nēnē and other birds eat the berries of this shrub and thus distribute it.[6]

Human Uses

Native Hawaiians would inhale ground leaves of the pūkiawe to treat congestion, and used the fruit to make lei.[4]

Hawaiian nobility used the smoke of pūkiawe to modify their mana before interacting with people of lower caste. [7][5] The bodies of executed criminals were cremated on pyres of pūkiawe to drive the mana from their bones and ensure their ghosts were harmless.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Leptecophylla tameiameiae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  2. 1 2 Little Jr., Elbert L.; Roger G. Skolmen (1989). "Pūkiawe" (PDF). United States Forest Service.
  3. ↑ "Styphelia tameiameiae". Hawaiian Native Plant Propagation Database. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  4. 1 2 "Pukiawe". Hawaiian Ethnobotany Online Database. Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  5. 1 2 3 Hall, John B. (2008). A hiker's guide to trailside plants in Hawaiʻi. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi: Mutual Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56647-872-4.
  6. 1 2 Elliott, Daniela Dutra; Tamashiro, Shari Y. "Native Plants Hawaii - Viewing Plant : Leptecophylla tameiameiae". nativeplants.hawaii.edu. University of Hawai‘i. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  7. ↑ Wagner, Warren L.; Herbst, Derral R.; Sohmer, S.H.; Mill, Susan W.; Wilson-Ramsey, Yevonn (1990). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaiʻi. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 590–591. ISBN 9780824811525.

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