By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Lyon Arboretum volunteers, from left, Betty Lou Nobriga,
Priscilla Nagao, Barbara Heavens and Priscilla Lau, assemble
wreaths for the Lyon Arboretum plant and craft sale next week.
THE common green ti plant, the one without any additional color in its shiny leaves, is so ordinary that it is difficult to find in garden shops and at plant sales. Plant’s many uses
fit gardeners to a ti"If you want a green ti plant, you just ask somebody for a cutting. They're easy to grow and are everywhere, so there's not much of a market for them," said Liz Huppman, research associate at Lyon Arboretum.
Maybe green ti plants don't sell well, but according to another Lyon staff member, Bob Hirano, they have been important enough in the native culture of Hawaii that they have been kept alive for thousands of years. This ti is on the short list of plants introduced here in the early migrations from the South Pacific. And it has no seeds.
"It must be propagated by man, because it won't propagate by itself," Hirano said. "It lost its ability for self-preservation because man has perpetuated its life. We know, then, that man has carried it all over the Pacific, that it didn't spread naturally." Only in this century, through chance mutations, have various colors appeared in ti, and the colored forms are fertile. These varieties have revived an interest in ti as a factor in landscaping.
Hirano added that the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association cultivated ti in the 1920s to experiment with its production of levulose, a diet sugar found in some fruits and honey. For various reasons, including the cheap manufacture of chemical sugar substitutes, nothing came of it.
But the ti plant has from the beginning been an important part of Hawaiian culture. One of the first mentions of ti comes from the journal of the early explorer Captain Nathaniel Portlock written in 1789. He wrote that the cooked sweet root of the ti plant was a popular dish with the Hawaiians.
According to Isabella Abbott's book, "Laau Hawaii: Traditional Uses of Hawaiian Plants," the captain figured out another use for the ti root -- he brewed a beer from the boiled roots which he determined would cure scurvy. "Perhaps it was from Portlock's example that Hawaiians evolved the liqueur known as okolehao, which is a distilled version of Portlock's beer and has a taste akin to brandy," she wrote.
The brewing of okolehao came later, at a time when the Hawaiians had been introduced to metal pots by American traders. The name okolehao means "iron bottom." But ti leaves were used at this time for house thatching, raincoats and sandals. They were used to wrap food, and were used by fishermen to drive fish into shallow water. A hedge of the plant around the house was believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
The green leafed ti grows 3 to 10 feet high. It has glossy, leathery, blade-shaped leaves, each 2 or more feet in length that grow upright from the slender woody stem. It will grow almost anywhere if given some shade, moisture and protection from the wind, which shreds and burns the leaves. Ti makes a good filler for shady parts of a garden, creating a solid green background.
The colored ti plants that have evolved in this century may be streaked with pink, red or white, or be of a bronze color. The best known of the colored tis are Sir Peter Buck, brought by Buck from Samoa, and a hybrid of a brilliant red on green named for John Cummings. These colored forms need sunlight to maintain their contrasting hues.
Either form is easily propagated either by tip cuttings or stem cuttings. The latter must first be rooted in water, while tip cuttings can be planted directly into a standard potting mix after removing some bottom leaves.
Tip cuttings from a wide variety of colored tis will be the featured plant at the Lyon Arboretum Association's Holiday Plant and Craft Sale Nov. 21. This is a great opportunity for the collector and the new gardener because the offerings are unusual and fairly indestructible.
For growers who want a short cut, Elsie Horikawa will be selling potted ti cultivars including Kauai Rosebud, Merry Christmas and Red Cameroon. Any of these will make a great houseplant for the holidays or, in a basket or decorative pot, a good Christmas gift. The sale will also include orchids, tropical fruit trees, tillandsias, herbs, gingers, native plants and palms.
A special treat will be the selection of fresh herb wreaths produced by the arboretum's volunteer group, Hui Hana Hawaii. They will have a limited number of wreaths on sale, which are usually gone in the first half hour, but at the sale, and only at the sale, the women will take orders for later delivery of these wreaths before the holidays.
They will also have wreaths of dried plant material, decorated pine cones, miniature Christmas trees, ornaments and other hand crafted items. They do beautiful work, and all of their profits are donated to the arboretum Currently, they have only 16 members and will welcome recruits.
Holiday plant
and craft saleWhen: 9 a.m.-noon Nov. 21
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
Send queries along with name and phone number to:
Evergreen by Lois Taylor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com.
Please be sure to include a phone number.
Evergreen by Lois Taylor is a regular Friday feature of the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. © 1998 All rights reserved.
