Manele, or the Hawaiian soapberry tree, is one of the hardiest and handsomest of indigenous trees in the islands. It is very adaptable and remarkably durable in the toughest of urban forest landscape settings. It is easy to grow from seeds.
"Indigenous" means it occurs naturally in Hawaii, as well as in other places, notably Mexico. It got to Hawaii by natural means, without help from people. Scientists call it Sapindus saponaria.
Manele is in the lychee and ‘a‘ali‘i family, sapindaceae. My foodie friend Lynn Constantinides, who has a horticulture degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a master’s degree in entomology, wanted us to try the fruit when she learned it is related to the super-ono fruiting trees lychee, longan and rambutan, so we had to put manele and its Oahu and Kauai cousin, lonomea (Oahu soapberry), to a taste test.
We didn’t die from eating them but they were not juicy and not too ono either. Even a bird would have to be somewhat starving to want to eat them, according to our "scientific" examination.
Manele trees grow as magnificent 60- to 80-foot, rounded-canopy trees at the high elevations of Kipuka Puaulu (Bird Park) up by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. They are the canopy trees growing beautifully beside soaring koa and ohia lehua. In this setting they have striking white trunks, broad overhead canopies and lots of precious seeds found on the ground below. Growing naturally, seedlings and saplings come up under this amazing tree.
This is one of my favorite family-friendly nature hikes. You can see so many native trees and plants growing together. The trees are huge and over the years staff and volunteers have removed weeds and alien plants that once threatened to take over this prehistoric Hawaiian forest.
Switch gears and change islands, and go to one of our most popular beach parks, Ala Moana — amazingly manele grows here, too. Two trees in the park are deemed "exceptional trees" that are recognized and protected by city ordinance.
The conditions at the beach park are harsh — hot, dry and salty — and people like to dump charcoal on trees (lolos). Sometimes mowers or weedeaters can do damage. Yet the manele grow on, not as big and beautiful as up in the kipuka, but still alive and Hawaiian.
Moanalua Gardens has some manele growing on a dry bank near one of the streams. They also grow at the Hoomaluhia, Liliuokalani, Koko Crater and Wahiawa botanical gardens. A lovely old specimen can be found at Leilehua High School in Wahiawa.
Lei makers love manele. The shiny, perfectly round black seeds encased in the brown shiny pulp can be collected and drilled to make lei. The seeds don’t even need to be polished or varnished as they have their own natural black sheen.
A fun thing with keiki is to put the sticky fruit in water and watch them lather up, just like soap. The Latin name refers to this: "Sapon" is a fancy name for soap. Some say manele works better than Woolite for fine washables.
Heidi Leianuenue Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant specializing in native, xeric and edible gardens. Reach her at heidibornhorst@gmail.com.
