This succulent east African member of the Apocynaceae Family is also known as a Carrion Plant, as it emits a rotten meat smell to attract flies. Photo from a garden near Todos Santos, Baja California.
Alahee or Walahee[syn. Canthium odoratum]RubiaceaeIndigenous to the Hawaiian Islands Oahu (Cultivated)Reportedly a dark brown or black dye was produced from the leaves of alahee by early Hawaiians.Spears, from 6 to 13 feet long, were fashioned for capturing hee (octopus) and were often made from alahee. The hardwood was used for farming tools such as , fishhooks, shark hooks (makau man) with bone points, short spears (o), and dip nets for fish and crabs. The wood was also made into adze blades for cutting softer wood such as wiliwili and kukui.Medicinally, the leaves and "the white skin of the stem" are prepared by cooking and the bitter medicine is drunk to cleanse the blood.NPH00008nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Psydrax_odorata
Ahakea lau nuiRubiaceaeHawaiian endemic genusKalauao Trail, Koolau Mts., OahuEarly Hawaiians had many uses for ahakea. It was used for canoe (waa) construction, the hard yellowish or reddish wood of ahakea was the most favorite wood for making gunwales strakes (moo), the forward end piece (lau ihu), and the aft piece (lau hope). Canoe paddles were also made from ahakea wood.It was also the preferred to frame hale (house) doorways and door frames (lapauila) because the reddish or yellowish colored wood was a chiefly color.Poi boards (papa kui poi) were made from ahakea because its close grained wood. Ahakea, mixed with kukui nuts, was also used medicinally to help with abseces, burst sores (ili ph); scar, perhaps tuberculosis; (alaala); and itch, ulcer (meeau). The bark and leaves were boiled and used to bathe in.nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Bobea_elatior
[syn. Hedyotis parvula]Rubiaceae (Coffee family)Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands (Waianae Mountains, Oahu)IUCN: Critically EndangeredOahu (Cultivated)EtymologyKadua is the oldest generic name for these species and is named in memory of M. Kadua, a native of Ulea, who sailed with Otto von Kotzebue (1787-1846), Baltic German navigator in Russian service, with the purpose of collecting plants.The Latin specific epithet parvula means very small or least.
Iwaiwa or kumuniuPteridaceaeEndemic to the Hawaiian IslandsNnkuli Valley, OahuNote the spent calyxes of a critically endangered n (Gardenia brighamii) in the center-left foreground and top left of the photo.EtymologyThe generic name Doryopteris is from the Greek dory, lacy, and pteris, fern, referring to the frond shape in some species.The specific epithet decipiens is from the Latin deceptum, deceptive or misleading.nativeplants.hawaii.edu/