‘Ōhi‘a

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'‘ŌHI‘A' ('‘Āweoweo,' 'Mā‘ohe‘ohe')

Status: Held in Collections

Background Information: '‘Ōhi‘a' was named for the mountain apple (Syzygium malaccense), known as ‘ōhi‘a ‘ai (literally "edible ‘ōhi‘a"). The cane's deep red and green colors are said to match the growth and flowers of the mountain apple. Mā‘ohe‘ohe means "tall, straight, spindly, as trees in a dense forest that reach up for light" and refers to bamboo or being bamboo-like. ‘Āweoweo refers to a red reef fish in Hawai‘i commonly called bigeye (Priacanthus spp.) and to a native plant in the Amaranth family (Chenopodium oahuense). Although many sugarcanes share names with fish, Fornander tells that this name is that of a famous place: “This cane was discovered during the battle between Kamehameha and Kiwalao at Mokuaweoweo. On account of the great number of people and the many who were dying they were hungry and thirsty; so when Pohina appeared with a bundle of cane Kiwalao inquired, ‘What is the name of the cane?’ Pohina replied, ‘This cane is called the Ohia.’ Kiwalao said, ‘You had better call that cane the Aweoweo.”

Stalk Color

dark red to dark purple with olive-green stripes, fades to lighter red striped with yellow-green or orange; wax bloom very sparse

Internode

cylindrical or slightly conoidal; bud furrow noticeable, deep, extends length of internode; wax band medium width, slightly depressed; growth ring green, orange, or red, tumescent; root band greenish-purple, olive green, or orange, obconoidal, 3–4 rows of eyes

Bud

ovate, long, green, turns red on exposure, moderately pubescent with short hairs; bud wings olive, turn red on exposure, broad, fringed, inserted below the middle of the bud

Leaf

erect, medium/short length, broad width, module 15:1–19:1, occasionally very slightly variegated with white or rarely pink, devoid of hairs except sparsely on edges, serration small and well spaced; upper midrib white or pink; sheath yellow-green, nearly always flushed with pink, variegated with pink or white, light to moderate wax coating, sparse hair group down the center, thick margin of dead tissue; dewlap light green or yellow-green, occasionally ringed in pink, ascending ligulate or ascending squarish deltoid; outer auricle transitional with a light tuft of medium-length hairs; inner auricle rounded nub, occurs well below the dewlap