216 NATURAL IJl^TORY OF HAWAII. 



problems of classifying the many forms that under varying conditions occur on 

 every island in Hawaii. The.v may be either trees or shrubs with leaves op- 

 posite or alternate, smooth or rough, round or linear, witli flowers axillary or 

 terminal, red or rarely yellow ; in short any plant in the forest, about which 

 there may be any doubt, is liable to l)e an ohia or an ohia lehua, though lehua 

 is generally and more correctly the name of the beautiful blossoms which are 

 ciiiiiposcd iiKistly of clusters of the red pistils and stamens. 



Of tliese flowers the natives are both fond and proud. Few indeed are the 

 mountain climbers that do not return at nightfall decked out with garlands of 

 the sweet-scented maile^'' and bearing a lei of the beautiful lehua to the never- 

 forgotten ones at home. 



It is about the modest maile vine that the sweetest perfume and the 

 fondest memories linger. It is of the maile that the voyager first hears as ho 

 hinds in the islands of sunshine and smiles. It is for the maile that he learns 

 to seek on his day-long rambles in the mountains, and it is a braided strand of 

 maile thrown about his neck at the fond parting by the shore that tells with 

 its fresh breath of the enchanted forest, in an enchanted land, and with its 

 lingering caress brings the dew of human tenderness to the eyes of the one de- 

 parting. And at last it is the faint perfume from a withered half -forgotten 

 keepsake, — a maile lei, that, though the oceans, and half a life time may inter- 

 vene, will set the heart throbbing and make the eyes grow dim at the memory of 

 the fond aloha that it breathes, calling the wanderer back again to the happiest 

 of lands. 



The straggling, somewhat twining, inconspicuous maile shrub is common 

 in the woods of the lower and middle regions and is recognized by the elliptical, 

 smooth, oval leaves from one to two inches in length ; by the flower which is small 

 and yellowish and by the elliptical, fleshy, black fruits that are more than half an 

 inch long. Tlie maile lei is made from the flner stems which are broken off and 

 the bark removed from the wood by chewing the stems until it will peal off 

 readily. The perfume is not noticeable until the bark has been bruised in this 

 manner. 



The ohia ai,i" the mountain apple, or edible ohia, belongs to a different 

 genus,-'' but in the same family as the true ohia. Frequently clumps of the 

 mountain apple will occur surrounded by ohia or kukui, especially at the foot of 

 cliff's, and besides the mountain waterfalls. It is a tree from twenty to fifty 

 feet in height with large green leaves and red flowers followed bj" refreshing, 

 crimson fruits that grow from the trunk and main branches. 



The awa -^ is best known owing to the intoxicating drink the Polynesians 

 manufactured from the large, thick, soft woody roots of a plant of the same 

 name which was cultivated by the natives of the various groups of islands 

 of the Pacific. The plant often grows two to four or more feet high, bearing 

 large, alternate heart-shaped begonia-like leaves six inches long by more than 

 that in width. It thrives in Hawaii and was always planted by the natives in 



^^ Alyxia olivceformis. ^^ Eugetiia Malaccensis. -" 'i.love properly Jumhnsa. -^ Piper methysticum. 



