Bobea sandwicensis

Description:

AhakeaRubiaceae (Coffee family)Hawaiian endemic genus (Waianae Mts. and south Koolau Mts. in Wailupe Valley on Oahu)/ Molokai, Lanai and Maui)Status: VulnerableOahu (Cultivated)Pictured is a flower and calyxes.Early Hawaiians had many uses for ahakea. It was used for canoe (waa) construction, the hard yellowish or reddish wood of ahakea was the most favorite wood for making gunwales strakes (moo), the forward end piece (lau ihu), and the aft piece (lau hope). Canoe paddles were also made from ahakea wood.It was also the preferred to frame hale (house) doorways and door frames (lapauila) because the reddish or yellowish colored wood was a chiefly color.Poi boards (papa kui poi) were made from ahakea because its close grained wood.Ahakea, mixed with kukui nuts, was also used medicinally to help with abscesses, burst sores (ili ph); scar, perhaps tuberculosis; (alaala); and itch, ulcer (meeau). The bark and leaves were boiled and used to bathe in.EtymologyThe generic name Bobea is named by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupr in 1830 for Jean-Baptiste Bobe-Moreau, physician and pharmacist in the French Marine.The specific epithet sandwicensis refers to the "Sandwich Islands," as the Hawaiian Islands were once called, and named by James Cook on one of his voyages in the 1770s. James Cook named the islands after John Montagu (The fourth Earl of Sandwich) for supporting Cook's voyages.nativeplants.hawaii.edu