The Milo is a member of the Mallow family and closely related to the true Hibiscus. Like the Hau, it is at home over a wide area in the South Seas and the Asiatic tropics. It is found growing on the beaches and is said to have shaded the grass hut home at Waikiki of the first King Kamehameha. ([Plate V])
KOU
Cordia sebestena Linnaeus
A native tree with bright orange colored blossoms is called Kou by the Hawaiians. Botanically it is Cordia subcordata. Though found on other South Sea islands, it is now rare in Hawaii, while a close relative, the Cordia sebestena, is generally called Kou. This foreign Kou, which has been introduced from tropical America, is quite similar in general appearance to the native species. Its flowers are a rich, orange-red, about an inch across. They are tubular, with six broad lobes, frilled and crepe-like in texture. Opening in clusters of three or four at a time, they make a gay showing over the small tree on which they grow. The leaves are very rough and shaped like a heart. Several trees grow on Young street between Piikoi and Pensacola streets. ([Plate V])
The wood of the native Kou was highly prized for making the wooden bowls from which the Hawaiians ate.
KUKUI. CANDLENUT TREE
Aleurites moluccana (L.) Willdenow
Conspicuous for its light colored foliage, groves of the Kukui tree are easily seen on the mountain side, from a long distance. The trees grow best in sheltered ravines and gullies, so that from a distance, the shadow of such ravines is usually lightened by the blotches of greyish green which mean Kukui trees. The trees grow down to sea level, however, and may be found at many places in Honolulu, among others in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel garden.
Leaves of the Kukui tree vary greatly. One type has pointed lobes, another has lobes which have flattened into almost regular form. The leaves are covered with a grayish down, which is particularly heavy on the under side, giving the tree its light appearance.
The white flowers are very small with five petals. They come in soft, massed clusters, male and female flowers growing separately on the same tree. The male appear on the upper branches, the female on the lower. They are not very different in appearance, but the male (illustrated on [Plate V]) has slightly broader petals. The Kukui is the special flower of Molokai.
The round green fruit contains a nut which was very useful to the early Hawaiians. Containing a high percentage of oil, it was used to make a candle-like torch, by stringing the nuts on the slender midrib of a coconut leaflet. Sixty or seventy nuts would burn an entire evening. The nut is also edible, although purgative in its action especially when not roasted. A pinch of ground, roasted Kukui nut is always served at luaus.
This tree is a member of the Euphorbia family. It grows widely over the South Seas.