Santalum freycinetianum
Encyclopedia
Santalum freycinetianum, Iliahi or Freycinet sandalwood, is a species of flowering
tree
in the European mistletoe
family, Santalaceae
, that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands
. Its binomial name commemorates Henri Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet
, a 19th-century French
explorer. Iliahi inhabits dry
, coastal mesic, mixed mesic, and wet forest
s on Oahu
, Kauai
, Lānai
, Maui
, and Molokai
at elevations of 250–950 m (820.2–3,116.8 ft). It grows in areas that receive 500–3800 mm (19.7–149.6 in) of annual rainfall. Like other members of its genus, iliahi is a root hemi-parasite
, deriving some of its nutrients from the host plant; common hosts include koa (Acacia koa), koaia (Acacia koaia
), and aalii (Dodonaea viscosa
).
. Trees were harvested for export to China
between 1791–1840, where the hard, yellowish-brown wood
was made into carved objects, chests, and incense
. The iliahi trade peaked from 1815 to 1826. Native Hawaiians used the wood to make pola, the deck
on a waa kaulua (double-hulled canoe
). Powdered laau ala was used as a perfume
and added to kapa
cloth.
) ashes to treat kepia o ke poo (dandruff
) and liha o ka lauoho (head lice
). Iliahi shavings mixed with awa (Piper methysticum
), nioi (Eugenia reinwardtiana), ahakea (Bobea
spp.), and kauila (Alphitonia ponderosa
) was used to treat sexually transmitted disease
s.
|work=Native Hawaiian Plants |publisher=Kapiolani Community College
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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...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in the European mistletoe
Viscum album
Viscum album is a species of mistletoe, the species originally so-named, and also known as European Mistletoe or Common Mistletoe to distinguish it from other related species...
family, Santalaceae
Santalaceae
Santalaceae is a widely distributed family of flowering plants which, like other members of Santalales, are partially parasitic on other plants...
, that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
. Its binomial name commemorates Henri Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet
Louis de Freycinet
Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet was a French navigator. He circumnavigated the earth, and was one of the first to produce a comprehensive map of the coastline of Australia.-Biography:...
, a 19th-century French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
explorer. Iliahi inhabits dry
Hawaiian tropical dry forests
The Hawaiian tropical dry forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of on the leeward side of the main islands and the summits of Niihau and Kahoolawe. These forests are either seasonal or sclerophyllous. Annual rainfall is less than and...
, coastal mesic, mixed mesic, and wet forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s on Oahu
Oahu
Oahu 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...
, Kauai
Kauai
Kauai 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",...
, Lānai
Lanai
Lānai 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....
, Maui
Maui
The 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,...
, and Molokai
Molokai
Molokai 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...
at elevations of 250–950 m (820.2–3,116.8 ft). It grows in areas that receive 500–3800 mm (19.7–149.6 in) of annual rainfall. Like other members of its genus, iliahi is a root hemi-parasite
Parasitic plant
A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known. Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and connects to the xylem, phloem, or...
, deriving some of its nutrients from the host plant; common hosts include koa (Acacia koa), koaia (Acacia koaia
Acacia koaia
Acacia koaia, known as koaia or koaie in Hawaiian, is a tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. It is closely related to koa , and is sometimes considered to be the same species...
), and aalii (Dodonaea viscosa
Dodonaea viscosa
Dodonaea viscosa is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia and Australasia.-Description:...
).
Varieties
- Santalum freycinetianum var. freycinetianum (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...
and 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...
) - Santalum freycinetianum var. lanaiense RockJoseph RockJoseph Francis Charles Rock was an Austrian-American explorer, geographer, linguist and botanist.-Life:He was born in Vienna, Austria, but emigrated to the United States in 1905 and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1907, where he eventually became an authority on the flora there...
– Lānai Sandalwood (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....
and 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,...
) - Santalum freycinetianum var. pyrularium (A.GrayAsa Gray-References:*Asa Gray. Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.*Asa Gray. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.*Asa Gray. Plant Sciences. 4 vols. Macmillan Reference USA, 2001....
) Stemmerm. – Kauai Sandalwood (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",...
)
Non-medicinal
The laau ala (heartwood) of iliahi contains valuable, aromatic essential oilsSandalwood oil
Sandalwood oil is an essential oil obtained from the steam distillation of chips and billets cut from the heartwood of the Sandalwood tree. Sandalwood oil is used in perfumes, cosmetics, and sacred unguents.-Main Constituents:...
. Trees were harvested for export to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
between 1791–1840, where the hard, yellowish-brown wood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
was made into carved objects, chests, and incense
Incense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
. The iliahi trade peaked from 1815 to 1826. Native Hawaiians used the wood to make pola, the deck
Deck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...
on a waa kaulua (double-hulled canoe
Outrigger canoe
The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull...
). Powdered laau ala was used as a perfume
Perfume
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...
and added to kapa
Kapa
Kapa is a fabric that was made by Native Hawaiians from the bast fibres of certain species of trees and shrubs in the orders Rosales and Malvales. It is similar to tapa found elsewhere in Polynesia but differs in the methods used in its creation...
cloth.
Medicinal
Native Hawaiians combined leaves and bark of the iliahi with naio (Myoporum sandwicenseMyoporum sandwicense
Myoporum sandwicense is a species of flowering tree in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. Common names include Naio, bastard sandalwood or false sandalwood. It is native to Hawaii and Mangaia in the Cook Islands.-Description:...
) ashes to treat kepia o ke poo (dandruff
Dandruff
Dandruff is the shedding of dead skin cells from the scalp . Dandruff is sometimes caused by frequent exposure to extreme heat and cold. As it is normal for skin cells to die and flake off, a small amount of flaking is normal and common; about 487,000 cells/cm2 get released normally after...
) and liha o ka lauoho (head lice
Head-louse infestation
Pediculosis capitis is a human medical condition caused by the colonization of the hair and skin by the parasitic insect Pediculus humanus capitis—the head louse. Typically, only the head or scalp of the host is infested...
). Iliahi shavings mixed with awa (Piper methysticum
Kava
Kava or kava-kava is a crop of the western Pacific....
), nioi (Eugenia reinwardtiana), ahakea (Bobea
Bobea
Bobea is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. All species in this genus are endemic to Hawaii. . Bobea was named for Jean-Baptiste Bobe-Moreau by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré in 1830 in his book Voyage de l'Uranie.The wood of Bobea is hard, wearable, and yellow. It was used...
spp.), and kauila (Alphitonia ponderosa
Alphitonia ponderosa
Alphitonia ponderosa is a species of flowering tree in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is locally known as kauila, as is the related Colubrina oppositifolia.-Description:A...
) was used to treat sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
s.
External links
i History Library |publisher=HawaiiHistory.org |accessdate=}}Iliahi|work=Native Hawaiian Plants |publisher=Kapiolani Community College
Kapiolani Community College
Kapiolani Community College, formerly Kapiolani Technical School, is a public, co-educational commuter college in Honolulu, Hawaii situated on the slopes of Diamond Head in Waikīkī...
|accessdate=}}