DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
- leaves long, narrow and leathery
- leaves similar color green on both surfaces
- leaf margin slightly prickly
- climbing on `ōhi`a or trees ferns with tendrils or short, upright, spreading shrub
TRADITIONAL HAWAIIAN USES
- thin aerial roots along stems were split and woven into baskets, cordage, fish traps, and mahiole (helmets)
- placed on hula altars to represent the demigoddess Lauka`Ie`Ie
HAWAIIAN RAIN FOREST ECOLOGY
- one of the few vines in native Hawaiian flora
- both a climbing vine and a sprawling shrub between the trees and trees ferns; lots of ecological
- opportunities for Hawaiian native plants with so few species establishing in the islands
- very sensitive to damage from cattle and pigs; abundance at Niaulani reflects fencing in 20th century and protection from ungulates
- survived kahili ginger decades as a vine above the ginger
- spreading now that ginger removed; can live on the forest floor as a shrub
SAY IT IN HAWAIIAN!
Hawaiian Rain Forest 