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Pleomele (genus)
Encyclopedia
Pleomele is a genus of flowering plant
s, sometimes placed in the genus Dracaena
. In the APG III classification system
, both genera are placed in the family
Asparagaceae
, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). The Hawaiian
name for plants in this genus is hala pepe, which translates to crushed or dwarfed Pandanus tectorius
.
combined the bark and leaves of hala pepe with the root bark of uhaloa (Waltheria indica
) and popolo (Solanum americanum
), and a section of kō kea (Saccharum officinarum) to treat high fever
and chills. Hala pepe bark, roots, and leaves were combined with ōhia ai (Syzygium malaccense) bark, uhaloa and popolo taproot bark, alaala wai nui pehu (Peperomia
spp.) stems, noni (Morinda citrifolia) fruit, kō kea, niu (coconut
s, Cocos nucifera), and pia (Tacca leontopetaloides
) to treat lung
disorders.
into kii
. Hala pepe represented the goddess
Kapo
on the kuahu (altar) within a hālau hula
(building which hula
was taught or performed). It along with ieie (Freycinetia arborea
), maile
(Alyxia oliviformis), ōhia lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha
) and palapalai (Microlepia strigosa) were the five essential plants at the hula altar.
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s, sometimes placed in the genus Dracaena
Dracaena (plant)
Dracaena is a genus of about 40 species of trees and succulent shrubs. In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae . It has also formerly been separated into the family Dracaenaceae or placed in the Agavaceae...
. In the APG III classification system
APG III system
The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy...
, both genera are placed in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae...
, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). The Hawaiian
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
name for plants in this genus is hala pepe, which translates to crushed or dwarfed Pandanus tectorius
Pandanus tectorius
Pandanus tectorius is a species of Pandanus that is native to Malesia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Common names include Thatch Screwpine, Hala , Bacua , and Vacquois ....
.
Species
- Pleomele aureaPleomele aureaPleomele aurea is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Kauai in Hawaii. It inhabits coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations of . It is a small evergreen tree, usually tall, but sometimes reaches . The gray, straight trunk does not have bark and is in...
H.MannHorace Mann Jr.-Biography:Horace Mann Jr. was born in Boston on February 25, 1844. He was the son of education reformer Horace Mann. While attending the Lawrence Scientific School he took lessons in zoology with Louis Agassiz and in botany with Asa Gray...
- Golden Hala Pepe (KauaiKauaiKauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
) - Pleomele auwahiensisPleomele auwahiensisPleomele auwahiensis, commonly known as Halapepe, is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the islands of Maui and Molokai in Hawaii. It can be found in dry and mesic forests at elevations of . It is threatened by habitat loss....
H.St.JohnHarold St. JohnHarold St. John was a professor of botany at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa from 1929 to 1958. A prolific specialist in field botany and systematics, he is credited with discovering about 500 new species of Pandanus, along with many other species, especially in the Pacific Islands.Born in...
- Maui Nui Hala Pepe (MauiMauiThe island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
, MolokaiMolokaiMolokai or Molokai is an island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is 38 by 10 miles in size with a land area of , making it the fifth largest of the main Hawaiian Islands and the 27th largest island in the United States. It lies east of Oahu across the 25-mile wide Kaiwi Channel and north of...
) - Pleomele fernaldiiPleomele fernaldiiPleomele fernaldii is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Lānai in Hawaii. It can be found in dry forests at elevations of . It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:...
H.St.John - Lānai Hala Pepe (LānaiLanaiLānai or Lanai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation. The only town is Lānai City, a small settlement....
) - Pleomele forbesiiPleomele forbesiiPleomele forbesii, Halapepe or Forbes' Dracaena, is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It inhabits dry, coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations of . It is threatened by habitat loss....
O.Deg.Otto DegenerOtto Degener was a botanist and conservationist who specialized in identifying plants of the Hawaiian Islands.-Life:Otto Degener was born May 13, 1899 in East Orange, New Jersey. Degener graduated from the Massachusetts Agricultural College...
- Waianae Hala Pepe (OahuOahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
) - Pleomele halapepePleomele halapepePleomele halapepe is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It inhabits dry, coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations of . It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:...
H.St.John - Oahu Hala Pepe (Oahu) - Pleomele hawaiiensisPleomele hawaiiensisPleomele hawaiiensis, the Hawaii Hala Pepe, is a rare species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Hawaii. It inhabits dry forests on old aā lava flows at elevations of on the leeward side of the island...
O.Deg. & I.Deg - Hawaii Hala Pepe (Island of HawaiiHawaii (island)The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...
)
Medicinal
Native HawaiiansNative Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
combined the bark and leaves of hala pepe with the root bark of uhaloa (Waltheria indica
Waltheria indica
Waltheria indica is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae, that has a pantropical distribution. It is believed to have originated in the neotropics. Common names include Sleepy Morning, Basora Prieta, Hierba de Soldado, Guimauve, Mauve-gris, Moto-branco, Fulutafu, Kafaki, and...
) and popolo (Solanum americanum
Solanum americanum
American nightshade is a herbaceous flowering plant of wide though uncertain native range. The certain native range encompasses the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Melanesia and Meganesia...
), and a section of kō kea (Saccharum officinarum) to treat high fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
and chills. Hala pepe bark, roots, and leaves were combined with ōhia ai (Syzygium malaccense) bark, uhaloa and popolo taproot bark, alaala wai nui pehu (Peperomia
Peperomia
Peperomia is one of the 2 large genera of the Piperaceae family, with more than 1000 recorded species. Most of them are compact, small perennial epiphytes growing on rotten wood. More than 1500 species have been recorded, occurring in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world, though...
spp.) stems, noni (Morinda citrifolia) fruit, kō kea, niu (coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
s, Cocos nucifera), and pia (Tacca leontopetaloides
Tacca leontopetaloides
Tacca leontopetaloides is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae, that is native to tropical Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, New Guinea, Samoa, Micronesia, and Fiji. It was intentionally brought to tropical Pacific Islands with early human migrations...
) to treat lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
disorders.
Non-medicinal
The soft wood of the trunk was carved by Native HawaiiansNative Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
into kii
Tiki
Tiki refers to large wood and stone carvings of humanoid forms in Central Eastern Polynesian cultures of the Pacific Ocean. The term is also used in Māori mythology where Tiki is the first man, created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne. He found the first woman, Marikoriko, in a pond – she seduced him...
. Hala pepe represented the goddess
Hawaiian mythology
Hawaiian mythology refers to the legends, historical tales and sayings of the ancient Hawaiian people. It is considered a variant of a more general Polynesian mythology, developing its own unique character for several centuries before about 1800. It is associated with the Hawaiian religion...
Kapo
Kapo (mythology)
In Hawaiian mythology, Kapo is a goddess of fertility, sorcery and dark powers who can assume any shape she wills. She is the mother of Laka, although some versions have them as the same goddess...
on the kuahu (altar) within a hālau hula
Halau hula
A hālau hula is a school in which the ancient Hawaiian dance form called hula is taught. The term comes from hālau, a workshed, and hula, the traditional dance of the Hawaiian Islands. Prior to European contact, the Hawaiian language had no word for "school," as children learned from their parents,...
(building which hula
Hula
Hula is a dance form accompanied by chant or song . It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form....
was taught or performed). It along with ieie (Freycinetia arborea
Freycinetia arborea
The Ieie is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber in the screwpalm family, Pandanaceae that is endemic to the Pacific Islands. Ieie is found in moist forest on the Hawaiian, Marquesas, Austral, Society, and Cook Islands. It grows into the forest canopy, attaching itself to a host tree using...
), maile
Maile
Alyxia oliviformis, known as Maile in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that is native to Hawaii. It grows as either a twining liana, scandent shrub, or small erect shrub, and is one of the few vines that are endemic to the islands. The scientific...
(Alyxia oliviformis), ōhia lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha
Metrosideros polymorpha
The ōhia lehua is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaii. It is a highly variable tree, being tall in favorable situations, and much smaller when growing in boggy soils or on basalt...
) and palapalai (Microlepia strigosa) were the five essential plants at the hula altar.