Battered by the ravages of time, weather and human negligence, feathered relics are easily ruined or lost. But cultural artifacts made from stone, wood, bone, cordage and even fabric are able to maintain their integrity through their inherent composition.
I’ve always been mesmerized by the artistic feather work of the kahili (royal standards) housed in Bishop Museum. Recently, I focused on the elegant and dynamic mana (power) of the wood that was sculpted for a particularly regal kahili pole. It was our endemic kauila.
Kauila (Colubrina oppositifolia) is also known as kauwila. The wood polishes to a majestic burgundy-brown. This extremely dense, durable wood sinks in water. Hawaiians utilized this quality as a metal substitute.
Kauila, made into tiny pegs, was selected to repair wooden bowls. It also was carved into ‘ukeke (stringed-bow instrument), the weighted base in ‘ume (a wand game), the hula sticks for kala‘au (stick dancing), runners for papa holua (sport sleds), ‘o‘o (agricultural digging sticks), pahoa (short daggers), la‘au palau (fighting clubs), leiomano (shark-tooth weapons), ihe pahe‘e (short spears), pololu (long spears), kao (fish spears), spears for kaka la‘au (spear fencing), spears for ‘o‘o ihe (spear throwing), hi‘a ka ‘upena (shuttles or needles for weaving fish nets), ‘ie kuku (squared kapa beaters), hohoa (rounded kapa beaters), and pou (house posts).
A bluish dye for kapa cloth was extracted from the bark and leaves. Kuhewa (heart failure/stroke) was treated medicinally with kauila.
On March 4, 1994, kauila was federally listed as an endangered species. Today, sparse populations struggle to survive in the Waianae mountain range on Oahu and the leeward slopes of Kohala, Hualalai and Mauna Loa. The place name Kaluakauila, close to the Puu Waawaa-Kaupulehu boundary on Hawaii island, and Kaena on Oahu, represents the significance of ancient kauila forests to those areas.
One solitary tree lives naturally but perilously wild in Honokowai, Maui.
Unrelenting threats to kauila are invasive plants (especially fountain grass on Hawaii island), wildfires, feral goats and pigs, rats and the insidious black twig borers.
Kauila is a medium-sized tree that thrives in dry, coastal-mesic to mixed-mesic forests of 800 to 3,000 feet in elevation. The oppositely patterned leaves are oval-bladed and pointed.
Flaking, gray-brown bark covers the trunk, while young twigs are reddish. Yellow-green, petite, star-like flowers are bunched. The fruit is a rounded capsule that is dehiscent (explodes to disperse seeds) when mature.
Fortunately, the general public can easily view kauila in many of our island botanical gardens. Kauila’s multicultural history enshrines its position as a royal member of our world-class, exquisite Hawaiian tropical hardwoods.
Duane Choy is a native Hawaiian plant specialist. Reach him at HanaHou@ecologyfund.net.
