Ceodes brunoniana
Pāpala, Pāpala kēpau
Australasian catchbird tree, Australasian catchbirdtree
Nyctaginaceae (Four O'Clock family)
Indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands (Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi Maui, and Hawaiʻi Island)
Oʻahu (Cultivated)
Hawaiian Names:
The name pāpala also is used for the native species of Charpentiera.
"Hawaiian Dictionaries" defines kēpau as "lead, pitch, tar, resin, pewter; gum, as on ripe breadfruit; any sticky juice, as of pāpala."
Pāpala kēpau are truly fascinating plants with a sad, but interesting, cultural history. A sinistral use for the sticky fruit was to trap native birds. [6] The captured victims provided feathers for the strikingly colorful cloaks (capes), helmets, lei, images and kāhili. Birds such as 'ō'ō and mamo were 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 'i'iwi and 'apapane which were covered with red- or green-colored feathers and would not have survived the plucking. They were captured, plucked and eaten.
Medicinally, early Hawaiians used the milky sap from pāpala kēpau was used for cuts. The cooked leaves were used to cure pāʻaoʻao (childhood disease with physical weakening) and for lepo paʻa (constipation).
They also used an adhesive gum from pāpala kēpau for repairing bowls.
Etymology
The former generic name Pisonia is named for William Piso (ca. 1611-1678), Dutch physician, pharmacist, botanist, and early writer on medicinal plants of Brazil.
Regarding the specific epithet "The Names of Plants" makes this comment:
"Brunonia, brunonianus -a -um, brunonis Smaethman’s* name to commemorate Robert Brown (vide infra) (Brunoniaceae) brunonianus -a -um, brunonis -is -e for Robert Brown FRS (1773–1858), English botanist."
* Henry Smeathman (1742–1786) was an English naturalist. He spend four years in and around the Sierra Leone studying the natural history.
Ceodes brunoniana
Pāpala, Pāpala kēpau
Australasian catchbird tree, Australasian catchbirdtree
Nyctaginaceae (Four O'Clock family)
Indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands (Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi Maui, and Hawaiʻi Island)
Oʻahu (Cultivated)
Hawaiian Names:
The name pāpala also is used for the native species of Charpentiera.
"Hawaiian Dictionaries" defines kēpau as "lead, pitch, tar, resin, pewter; gum, as on ripe breadfruit; any sticky juice, as of pāpala."
Pāpala kēpau are truly fascinating plants with a sad, but interesting, cultural history. A sinistral use for the sticky fruit was to trap native birds. [6] The captured victims provided feathers for the strikingly colorful cloaks (capes), helmets, lei, images and kāhili. Birds such as 'ō'ō and mamo were 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 'i'iwi and 'apapane which were covered with red- or green-colored feathers and would not have survived the plucking. They were captured, plucked and eaten.
Medicinally, early Hawaiians used the milky sap from pāpala kēpau was used for cuts. The cooked leaves were used to cure pāʻaoʻao (childhood disease with physical weakening) and for lepo paʻa (constipation).
They also used an adhesive gum from pāpala kēpau for repairing bowls.
Etymology
The former generic name Pisonia is named for William Piso (ca. 1611-1678), Dutch physician, pharmacist, botanist, and early writer on medicinal plants of Brazil.
Regarding the specific epithet "The Names of Plants" makes this comment:
"Brunonia, brunonianus -a -um, brunonis Smaethman’s* name to commemorate Robert Brown (vide infra) (Brunoniaceae) brunonianus -a -um, brunonis -is -e for Robert Brown FRS (1773–1858), English botanist."
* Henry Smeathman (1742–1786) was an English naturalist. He spend four years in and around the Sierra Leone studying the natural history.