Pittosporum hosmeri
Hōʻawa or Kona cheesewood
Pittosporaceae (Pittosporum family)
Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands (Kohala Mountains south to the Kaʻū District, Hawaiʻi Island)
Oʻahu (Cultivated)
The Hawaiian crow, or ʻalalā, (Corvus tropicus) fed on this hōʻawa, attracted by the bright orange inside color of the ripe fruit capsules and dark seeds and thus ensuring the spread of the plants. However, ʻalalā are now extremely rare and populations of hōʻawa in the birds former range are becoming very scarce as a result. This is a classic example of how interdependent native Hawaiian plants and animals are in the natural ecosystem.
The early Hawaiians used the wood to make gunwales for canoes.
The outer layer of the fruit valves were used medicinally. They were pounded and used externally on sores.
Flowers
www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/5187804829/in/photolist-...
Fruit
www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/8054150432/in/photolist-...
Habit
www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/5188406532/in/photolist-...
Etymology
The generic name Pittosporum is derived from the Greek pittos, pitch, and sporos, seed, in reference to the film of viscid resin covering the black seeds.
The specific epithet hosmeri is named in honor of Ralph Sheldon Hosmer (1874-1963), Hawaiʻi's first territorial forester. Hosmer's Grove, Maui is one of Hosmer's forestry experimental using non-native species he planted in 1910. Unfortunately, some of the species are now invasive on Maui, such as the Mexican weeping pine, Monterrey pine, and eucalyptus, displacing the native plants.
Pittosporum hosmeri
Hōʻawa or Kona cheesewood
Pittosporaceae (Pittosporum family)
Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands (Kohala Mountains south to the Kaʻū District, Hawaiʻi Island)
Oʻahu (Cultivated)
The Hawaiian crow, or ʻalalā, (Corvus tropicus) fed on this hōʻawa, attracted by the bright orange inside color of the ripe fruit capsules and dark seeds and thus ensuring the spread of the plants. However, ʻalalā are now extremely rare and populations of hōʻawa in the birds former range are becoming very scarce as a result. This is a classic example of how interdependent native Hawaiian plants and animals are in the natural ecosystem.
The early Hawaiians used the wood to make gunwales for canoes.
The outer layer of the fruit valves were used medicinally. They were pounded and used externally on sores.
Flowers
www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/5187804829/in/photolist-...
Fruit
www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/8054150432/in/photolist-...
Habit
www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/5188406532/in/photolist-...
Etymology
The generic name Pittosporum is derived from the Greek pittos, pitch, and sporos, seed, in reference to the film of viscid resin covering the black seeds.
The specific epithet hosmeri is named in honor of Ralph Sheldon Hosmer (1874-1963), Hawaiʻi's first territorial forester. Hosmer's Grove, Maui is one of Hosmer's forestry experimental using non-native species he planted in 1910. Unfortunately, some of the species are now invasive on Maui, such as the Mexican weeping pine, Monterrey pine, and eucalyptus, displacing the native plants.