cb2dc4982d52bda5db784d31ec11d48e

Pāpala kēpau or Umbrella catchbird tree Nyctaginaceae Indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands Oʻahu (Cultivated)  The early Hawaiians used an adhesive gum from pāpala kēpau for repairing bowls.  The milky sap from pāpala kēpau (Pisonia spp.) was used for cuts. The cooked leaves were used to cure pāʻaoʻao (childhood disease with physical weakening) and for lepo paʻa (constipation).  Pāpala kēpau is a truly fascinating plant with a sad but interesting cultural history. A sinistral use for the sticky fruit was to trap native birds. The captured victims provided feathers for the strikingly colorful cloaks (capes), helmets, lei, images and kāhili. Birds such as ʻōʻō (Moho spp.) and mamo (Drepanis spp.) were seasonally plucked of their few moulting yellow feathers and set free to grow more for the next season. However, this was not the case with the ʻiʻiwi and ʻapapane which were totally covered with red-colored feathers and would not have survived the plucking. They were captured, plucked and eaten.  NPH00005 nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Pisonia_umbellifera