Economic Woods of Hawaii 713 



The tree is exceedingly variable in stature and foliar characters; 

 it is commonly a small shrub, but in favorable localities becomes 

 a tree of twenty-five feet. It is found on all the islands at eleva- 

 tions of 1,500 to 4,000 feet, in regions of moderate rainfall. The 

 light brown bark is richly provided with strong fibers, and this part 

 of the tree was of great value to the primitive Hawaiians. From 

 it the finest tapa or bark cloth was produced. The modern tapa 

 of Samoa is made from a species of Pipturus. 



The hau, Hibiscus tileaceus L., a cosmopolitan littoral species, 

 abounds on Hawaiian beaches and lowlands. The long curved 

 branches were used in conjunction with the wili-wili, in the con- 

 struction of the outrigger for the Polynesian canoe. The plentiful 

 tough bast of the bark was commonly utilized for certain kinds of 

 rough cordage and heavy tapas. Nowadays the Oriental farmers 

 pollard the trees, and use the bark from the long, wand-like branches 

 for tjdng up rice bags, bunches of bananas, and other produce. 

 Along the beaches the tree is frequently pruned to form a wide 

 spreading arbor or lanai. 



Another native cordage plant, the akia {Wikstroemia oahiiensis 

 (Gray) Rock), is a shrub or small tree, growing on the lowlands 

 and in the rain-forest. The bark is very fibrous, tough, and 

 black in color. The fiber was prepared and used in the same way 

 as the hau and the olond. Hawaii has seven or eight endemic spe- 

 cies of akia, which were used both for their fiber, and also for their 

 narcotic property, by means of which fish were stupefied and 

 caught. 



One of the most valuable trees of the Pacific Ocean is the kala, 

 Pandanus odoratissimus L. It is widely distributed throughout 

 southern Asia, the Indian Archipelago, and the islands of the 

 Pacific, and was doubtless brought to Hawaii by the early human 

 migrants from their southern home. The tree is easily recog- 

 nized by its abundant large prop- or stilt-roots, which form a 

 cluster four to six feet high around its base. The naked trunk 

 and branches are densely covered with conspicuous leaf-scars and 

 prickly lenticels; the glossy, spiny-margined, ribband-like foliage 

 is crowded to the ends of the branches in wind-tossed rosettes. 

 The trees are unisexual; the male trees bear very fragrant com- 

 pound spadices pendtilous from the center of leaf -whorls ; the female 

 trees bear spadices erect and solitary in the leaf-whorls, and sur- 

 rounded by showy white bracts. When mature, the fruit reaches 



