Streblus pendulinus
Genus
Streblus
Species
pendulinus
Hawaiian Names with Diacritics
- Aʻiaʻi
Hawaiian Names
- Aiai
Common Names
- Hawaii roughbush
- Hawaiian false-mulberry
- Isaac wood
- Sia's backbone
- Siah's backbone
Synonyms
- Morus brunoniana
- Morus pendulina
- Pseudomorus brunoniana
- Pseudomorus brunoniana var. sandwicensis
- Pseudomorus pendulina
- Pseudomorus pendulina var. sandwicensis
- Pseudomorus sandwicensis
- Streblus brunonianus
- Streblus sandwicensis
Distribution Status
Indigenous
Endangered Species Status
No Status
Plant Form / Growth Habit
- Shrub
- Tree
Mature Size, Height (in feet)
- Shrub, Medium, 6 to 10
- Shrub, Tall, Greater than 10
- Tree, Dwarf, Less than 15
- Tree, Small, 15 to 30
Life Span
Long lived (Greater than 5 years)
Landscape Uses
- Specimen Plant
Plant Produces Flowers
Yes
Plant texture
No data available.
Water Requirements
No data available.
Light Conditions
No data available.
Natural Range
- Kauaʻi
- Oʻahu
- Molokaʻi
- Lānaʻi
- Maui
- Hawaiʻi
Natural Zones (Elevation in feet, Rainfall in inches)
- 150 to 1000, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
- 1000 to 1999, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
- 2000 to 2999, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
- 3000 to 3999, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
- 4000 to 4999, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
Habitat
- Terrestrial
Additional Habitat Information
Aʻiaʻi is an indigenous shrub to small tree in Hawaiʻi found from about 985 to over 5500 feet mainly in mesic forest, sometimes in upper portions of dry forest or drier part of wet forest.
It is also found from New Guinea to Micronesia, south to Norfolk Island, eastern Australia, New Hebrides, Fiji, and Rapa.
Special Features and Information
General Information
Aʻiaʻi is an indigenous member of the Mulberry family (Moraceae) comprising over 1,000 species. This family includes familiar Hawaiian plants as figs and banyans (Ficus), ʻulu or breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), wauke or paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), and kilika or white mulberry (Morus alba). But aʻiaʻi is the only species in the family native to the Hawaiian Islands.
Early Hawaiian Use
No early Hawaiian use is known. [1]
Modern Use
Uses Outside of Hawaiʻi:
Joseph Rock (1919) noted, “The wood of the Aiai is light brown, close-grained, hard, and tough. The aboriginals of New South Wales employed the wood for their boomerangs. When properly dressed and polished it has a remarkable resemblance to Oak.” [1,2]
Fruits are mildly sweet. [3]
Additional References
[1] "Auwahi: Ethnobotany of a Hawaiian Dryland Forest" by A.C. Medeiros, C.F. Davenport & C.G. Chimera, pages 18-19.
[2] "Common Forest Trees of Hawaii (Native and Introduced)" by Elbert L. Little Jr. and Roger G. Skolmen, page 108.
[3] "An Edible Hawaiian Garden" by Chuck Chimera in "Hawaii Landscape" May/June 2013, page 27.
PHOTOS FOR THIS SPECIES CAN BE SEEN AT THE LINK (Copy & Paste to your browser):
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=50823119%40N08&sort=date-taken-desc&view_all=1&text=Streblus%20pendulinus
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This record is as complete as we can generate for this plant profile at this point. Please email nativeplantshawaii@gmail.com if you wish to contribute to the data. Please include sources and references for all data submitted