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Natural History

HAPU'U, TREE FERNS
(Cibotium spp.)


Flourishing over several thousand feet of elevation, Hawaii's four species of endemic tree ferns need a steady and abundant supply of water. They are part of the Dicksoniaceae tree fern family which has more than 20 species that occur in the Southern hemisphere. Indigenous peoples throughout the world's temperate and tropical areas have used tree ferns, both dead and alive.

In an undisturbed rain forest, if they are shaded by larger trees, tree ferns form an almost continuous secondary layer of forest greenery. In turn they protect more fragile ferns, vines and ground-hugging plants. Gullies and protected, narrow chasms are especially favorable.
Unlike woody trees, the tree ferns act more like fern rosettes living on top of their own dead stems. Although an old tree trunk can measure as much as two or more feet in diameter at the base, only a small portion of this is actually taken up by the trunk. The bulk of this so-called trunk is made up of intertwining aerial roots that arise from the small central column and gradually work their way toward the ground. These aerial roots provide support for the tree and protect the real trunk from injury.

At the top of this "trunk" is a cluster of fronds, each of which is between six to twelve feet long. The broad fronds are intricately divided into hundreds of small segments that are usually dark green and shiny on top and a lighter green or dull white underneath. The undersides are sometimes covered with fine cobwebby hairs.

All experienced gardeners know: you water hapu'u at the top, where the new fronds arise rather than at the base. Watering the base of the fern does nothing. A single "trunk" may reach heights of 25 feet.

The trunk is composed of a central column of starch encased in the bases of old fronds. Over many years as much as 60 to 70 pounds of pure starch may develop in one tree fern's central core.

During times of famine, the top section of the ferns were trimmed off and the "wood" (a very hard layer surrounding the starch core) was chipped away to expose the starchy pith. This pith was wrapped in ti leaves and baked in the imu for food. The process took at least three whole days and people sometimes starved to death waiting for the hapu'u to finish cooking. Mary Kawena Pukui quotes an old proverb that refers to this dilemma, "If the hapu;u is the food, it is the food of death."

On the Big Island, many years before the Kilauea region became a National Park, large tree fern trunks were dumped into certain steam crevices in the neighborhood of the Volcano House. After they had been cooked by the volcanic heat, they were fed to pigs to fatten them.
Even the uncooked starch is favored by pigs. One way to tell there is a large feral pig population is the presence of gouged-out hapu'u trunks.

Around 1920 a starch industry began on the Big Island, producing hapu'u starch used as thickeners in cooking and for laundry. It was halted after only a short time and the rain forests were not damaged severely.

Hawaiians sometimes used the trunks to provide secure footing on slippery forest trails, the interlacing fibers providing much-needed traction. Modern commercial flower growers use the trunk fibers as a medium for growing orchids and anthuriums. These fibers provide a solid base which the roots of the orchids and anthuriums can anchor themselves.

Ancient Hawaiians also sometimes ate the young, uncoiled fronds or "fiddleheads."
Every emerging hapu'u fiddlehead is protected by a silky golden fluff which is actually made of thousands of golden-brown scales. The fluff protects the young buds and stem bases as they develop inside the top of the tree "trunk." Hawaiians called the fluff "pulu."

In ancient times the pulu was rarely harvested. Its primary use was for embalming the body of an ali'i. First, the vital organs, throat, tongue and brain were removed. The cavities that resulted were stuffed tightly with pulu, then sewed up with olona cord and wrapped in black kapa bark cloth. A body prepared in this way was called i''aloa (long fish).

Some sources say the bodies were kept for at least eight months before being buried or secreted in some cave whose entrance was in some cases later sealed with a cement-like volcanic ash. Modern research has found that pulu contains an aid that absorbs body fluids, drying up the deceased bodies so the skin feels like parchment.

Westerners saw the potential for using pulu as stuffing. At first glance, pulu looked like an inexpensive substitute for down. Between 1867 and 1884 more than 4 million pounds of sun-dried pulu was exported. In 1869 alone, the amount of pulu harvested from these ferns for export came to almost 623,000 pounds.

It was used to stuff everything from mattresses and pillows to quilts and toys. Village chiefs, eager to cash in on the demand, ordered the people to collect every little bit of pulu that could be found. Tall trees, even those with very little fluff, were chopped down and left to rot once they were denuded of their golden, hairy crowns.

However, as Hawaii forester C. S. Judd commented, in 1927, "when new, (the pulu-stuffed mattresses and pillows) are admirable, but after the thread-like cells had broken down the mattresses became lumpy and an old pulu pillow was just as comfortable as a bag of very fine sand."

Pulu is no longer a commercial product, but the exploitation of the wild trees continues as they are harvested for use in commercial and private landscaping.

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Arts & Culture

THE OLD MAUI HIGH SCHOOL

Old-timers wax nostalgic about "the old Maui High School" in Hamakuapoko.
For many of them, it was the only educational alternative available after the eighth grade. The school closed in 1972, when the new Maui High School opened in Kahului.

Remnants of the school are still standing. After the old Maui High closed, some of the buildings continued in use for projects such as the study of nitrogen fixation in agriculture. Others have housed various community activities and privately run classes.

It's still possible to drive past the old school on Holomua Road, above Ho'okipa Beach Park. To get onto Holomua, you can turn off Baldwin Avenue just above the Paia Hospital monument (located in sugar fields below the Makawao Union Church) and exit onto the Hana Highway.
The school opened in 1913 as a two-year high school that served Central and East Maui. It was the first co-educational secondary school on the island. When the school was built, "H'poko" was a thriving plantation village with hundreds of residents, several churches, a store, a theatre, and a public grammar school as well as the high school. In the early 1900's, Hamakuapoko was the fifth-largest sugar plantation on the island. At one time there was a sugar mill in the area, although the mill was defunct by the time the school was built.

The sixteen students who comprised the first class to attend Maui High were taught by three teachers. For the next 58 years, Maui High attracted students from as far away as Wailuku. In the early days, students from central Maui were part of the daily commuter crowds on the Kahului Railroad, the network of sugar cane trains serving the East Maui and Central area plantations. Kahului Railroad replaced its passenger service with a fleet of buses in the mid-1930s.

Additional demands for high school education led to the establishment of the Baldwin and Hana High Schools. The first class graduated from Baldwin High in 1939. The first Hana class graduated in 1941. As the exodus away from plantation villages into the subdivisions in Kahului town accelerated during the 1950s and 1960s, the need for bigger, newer facilities finally led to the closing of the old school.

Many graduates of the old Maui High School became political and business leaders. The most famous was Patsy Takemoto Mink, a long-time, influential member of the U. S. House of Representatives.

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Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD ENGLISH: When I get nervous, my hands start shaking.
BRADDAH-NICS: Me, I get all nerjous an' da han' only shake up.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD ENGLISH: Byron is very articulate.
BRADDAH-NICS: Byron, him only smart wit' da mout'.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD ENGLISH: I did not say that.
BRADDAH-NICS: Not. I nevah say dat!

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Local Grinds

Cold Somen Salad

Ingredients:

Cook noodles according to package directions; rinse, drain, then chill. In a saucepan, combine sugar, broth, soy sauce, vinegar and oil. Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool. To serve, place somen on a large platter. Garnish and serve with broth mixture. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

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Spotlight On…

Kaiolohia Bay (Shipwreck Beach) - Lanai

Known for some of the most unique scenery in the islands, Kaiolohia Bay is a great place to take a relaxing stroll while taking in the wonderful scenery. While the beach itself is gorgeous; pristine white sands sprinkled with drift wood, small pools amongst shallow reefs, and a wonderfully clear view of the island of Molokai, the most fantastic site would no doubt be that which gives Kaiolohia its nickname "Shipwreck Beach" - the ever present shipwreck just offshore. Attached to a reef lays a large oiler from World War II, holding its position even after so many years. The large, beaten hull is a truly unique site not to be missed. Other site of interest at Kaiolohia include unusual lava rock formations, Hawaiian petroglyphs, and the ruins of an abandoned lighthouse.

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