Touchardia latifolia

Main Plant Information

Genus

Touchardia

Species

latifolia

Hawaiian Names with Diacritics

• Olonā

Hawaiian Names

• Olona

Synonyms

• Touchardia angusta
• Touchardia christensenii
• Touchardia glabra
• Touchardia haupuensis
• Touchardia iaoensis
• Touchardia konaensis
• Touchardia lanaiensis
• Touchardia molokaiensis
• Touchardia nana
• Touchardia napaliensis
• Touchardia occidentalis
• Touchardia wailauensis
• Touchardia wainihaensis

Plant Characteristics

Distribution Status

Endemic

Endangered Species Status

No Status

Plant Form / Growth Habit

• Partially Woody / Shrub-like

Mature Size, Height (in feet)

• Shrub, Small, 2 to 6
• Shrub, Medium, 6 to 10

Life Span

Long lived (Greater than 5 years)

Landscape Uses

No data available.

Additional Landscape Use Information

Not known to be used in landscaping.

Plant Produces Flowers

Yes

Flower Characteristics

Flower Type

Not Showy

Flower Colors

• Light Orange
• Orange

Additional Blooming Period and Fruiting Information

Olonā produce male and female flowers on the same plant.

Fruits are bright to dull orange at maturity, and are fleshy.

Leaf Characteristics

Plant texture

• Coarse

Leaf Colors

• Dark Green
• Medium Green
• Red

Additional Leaf Color Information

Leaf morphology such as leaf color, pubescence, and redness of the midrib, varies from location to location. [7]

Pests and Diseases

Additional Pest & Disease Information

Slugs may eat leaves and fruit. Red spider mites will attck under the leaves and can be removed by hoticultural oil. Water before using horticultural oil to reduce stress.

Growth Requirements

Fertilizer

Foliar feed with 8-8-8 montly and to the soil every three to six months depending on soil condition and rainfall.

Water Requirements

• Moist
• Wet

Additional Water Information

Water in dry periods.

Soil must be well drained

Yes

Light Conditions

• Shade

Additional Lighting Information

Plant with other plants for protection in a shady, moist site and protect from strong, direct winds.

Soils

• Cinder
• Organic

Special Growing Needs

Best to outplant olonā during the wetter and cooler times of the year.

Environmental Information

Natural Range

• Kauaʻi
• Oʻahu
• Molokaʻi
• Lānaʻi
• Maui
• Hawaiʻi

Natural Zones (Elevation in feet, Rainfall in inches)

• 150 to 1000, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
• 150 to 1000, Greater than 100 (Wet)
• 1000 to 1999, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
• 1000 to 1999, Greater than 100 (Wet)
• 2000 to 2999, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
• 2000 to 2999, Greater than 100 (Wet)
• 3000 to 3999, 50 to 100 (Mesic)
• 3000 to 3999, Greater than 100 (Wet)

Habitat

• Terrestrial

Additional Habitat Information

From 230 to over 3900 feet in mesic valleys and wet forests.

One source that did a study on olonā notes a variety of habitats: “Handy and Handy (1972) reported that olona grows in “boggy interior valleys” and “upland areas” and Kamakau (1976) describes olona habitat as rainy, marshy, mossy, in mountainous areas, often near banana trees. Funk (1982), during sporadic field studies, confirmed the habit of olona to grow in wet areas with deep soil and reported that although elevation varied, olona preferred steep or disturbed terrain.” [7]

Special Features and Information

General Information

Olonā are members of the Nettle Family (Urticaceae). But unlike its mainland relatives, the majority of the gentle native genera have no painful stinging hairs.*

Other native relatives include endemics such as ʻākōlea ( Boehmeria grandis ), Hawaiian stingingnettle ( Hesperocnide sandwicensis ), five Neraudia spp., four Pipturus spp., two Urera spp., and the indigenous pilea or Pacific island clearweed ( Pilea peploides ).

Olonā ( Touchardia latifolia ) belongs to an endemic monotypic genus, that is, a genus having only one species. Other endemic examples of a monotypic genus in the Hawaiian Islands can be found in a native begonia called pua maka nui ( Hillebrandia sandwicensis ), kanaloa ( Kanaloa kahoolawensis ), kanawao ( Broussaisia arguta ), and a tall species of grass ( Dissochondrus biflorus ).

• The exception is the Hawaiian stingingnettle ( Hesperocnide sandwicensis ), a rare, but sometimes locally common, annual apparently with quite painful stinging hairs. It is restricted to the subalpine woodlands or alpine areas at about 540 to 790 feet on the plateau between Hualālai, Mauna Loa, and Mauna Kea on Hawaiʻi Island.

Etymology

Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaiʻi , Volume 2, page 1310 (Wagner, et al.) notes that the generic name Touchardia is “unknown, perhaps named after a Mr. Touchard.”

The specific epithet latifolia is derived from the Latin lati or latisi , broad or wide, and folia , foliage.

Background Information

Olonā is one of the native plants that attract the native butterfly Pulelehua Kamehameha or Kamehameha butterfly ( Vanessa tameamea )–a good reason not to spray insecticides on the plants. [9]

Very strong fibers called laticifers, or laticifer cells, made olonā desirable to early Hawaiians, and later others, for its cordage and other uses. [7]

Olonā ( Touchardia latifolia ) is certainly not as common as it was in old Hawaiʻi and current populations are in decline. There may be differing factors that are involved. In a paper by Wisteria F. Loefflera and Clifford W. Morden, they comment: “Results showing genetic variability between pairs of populations and between individuals within the same population indicate that, although propagated by cuttings, T. latifolia populations were most likely not cultivated as distinct clonal varieties. An alternative explanation for the genetic variation found within populations is that natural recovery of genetic variation through sexual reproduction since the discontinuation of cultivation has taken place. However, the absence of seedlings from observed wild populations ([Wong, 1993]), as well as the continued cultivation of many populations of T. latifolia, renders this explanation less likely.” [8]

Early Hawaiian Use

Agriculture:

Olonā is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Wild clumps were called ōpū olonā by early Hawaiians. [7,10] The first discovery and use by early Hawaiians is unknown, but olonā became one of the few native plants extensively cultivated by them. [11] Because there were few places suitable for growing large areas for olonā, it was generally grown in small “plantations” or garden patches called olonā māla. A large cultivated patch, sometimes up to 2 acres or more, was called olonā kīhāpai. Cultivated areas with olonā were weeded. [7,10,11]

They propagated them by means of root shoots, rooted branches, cuttings called “slips,” or seeds. [8,10] Another method was to take the ‘old stalks or toppled stalks and bend them to the ground and covered with soil to promote rooting and lateral branching to form new stalks.’ Under cultivation, the lateral branches were removed from upright stems to reduce the number of holes in the bast fiber. [7,10]

Red-veined forms were preferred over green-viened forms perhaps due to stronger fibers. [8]

It took plants one year to 18 months to mature and stalks were woody. [7,11] At harvest time, the best stems taken were straight, about one or two inches thick and about ten feet tall. [10] Men, women and children shared in the harvest, but only women made the cordage. [11] Harvest and preparation techniques were thoroughly researched by Jenny Harvey of Swarthmore College. She notes: “The age of the olonā stalk made a difference in harvesting time. Plants around 18 months were preferred for retting because the bast fiber of older stalks is too knotty. The bast layer was easily stripped off straight stalks with the fingers (Kamakau, 1976). Strips of bark were carried over the shoulder or rolled with the bark inside to flatten them out (Abbott, 1992). Most accounts report that the strips of bark were softened in water, sometimes running water, for a day or so, but natives interviewed by Dr. N. Russel (Smith, 1902) omit this step. Sheds were erected near olonā patches for scraping down the harvested bast fiber (Handy, 1972). Both sides of the bast fiber layer were scraped down on long, thin hardwood boards called lāʻau kahi olonā or papa olonā. The scraper was usually a sea shell, though later turtle bone from the costal plate of the shell was used. The scraper was sharpened frequently. Russel claims that scraping was completed in 1-2 minutes, leading him to advocate large scale production of the fiber-yielding plant. However, [Catherine] Summers (1990) implies that practice was required to master olonā scraping: only experts could scrape a few hundred strips in a day. The white ribbons of fibers (actually laticifers) remaining were separated with the fingernail, dried, and twisted into cordage by the women (Handy, 1972).” [7]

The small sheds, aforementioned, were constructed near fresh water pools for specifically for scraping the lacticifers. [10]

Clothing:

Tapa (kapa) was sometimes made from the inner bark of olonā. [11]

Cordage:

To produce cordage, the number of strands of lacticifers twisted together, by rolling on thigh and open palm, would depend on the use. Usually two or three strands were plied together for cordage. Olonā was seldom braided. [10] The very strong cordage was used for ipu bowls and container nets (kōkō) but only for a special kind known as kōkō puʻupuʻu that were used only for containers belonging to aliʻi. [6,10] Cordage was used for lei, lei hulu (feather lei worn by women of the aliʻi), lashing for shark’s teeth wooden daggers used for weapons, and for netting foundation for ti-leaf raincoats, feathered capes (ʻahu ʻula), helmets (mahiole), feathered images (akua hulu manu), and pāʻū. [1,4,5,10,11] Snares (lāʻau kia manu), and occasionally nets, made of olonā cordage were used to catch birds. [2,10] Fish nets made from olonā were treated with great care and used only for their intended purpose. [10] The cordage was also used for fishing lines that will not kink, withstood salt water, and reportedly streches very little. The cordage was so strong that early Hawaiians could land marlin (aʻu) and other large fighting fish by hook and line. The line was used for shore, open ocean, and deep sea fishing purposes. [1,4,10]

Broken, but not too badly, gourd (ipu) containers, were mended by drilling holes a few milimeters apart on each side of the break and neatly drawing the parts together with olonā cord. [6]

The Hawaiian garotte or strangling cord made of the cordage was used by executioners (mū), the kill those who violated major kapu, who were to be offered in sacrifice, or who had been designated, for some other reason, by the high chiefs. [10]

Games & Sports:

The lighweight cordage was also used in games such as kite flying (hoʻolele lupe). Kite cords might be a mile long for large kites, which took two men to keep them aloft. The extremely strong olonā cordage was well suited for the task. [1]

Medicinal:

Olonā shoots were chewed and used for body ailments for adults to infants. The slimy juice mixed with water and other ingredients was strained and taken as a laxative. [3]

Music:

The string of choice for the musical bow called ukeke was olonā. [1] Olonā was used in stretching drumskins over drums. [7]

Other Uses:

The cordage was also used in tying the umbilical cord. [7]

Modern Use

Early Modern Use:

Olonā was not only highly valued among the early Hawaiians, but also later with Western sailors. The cordage was much stronger than any used by Western voyagers and was in high demand. [10]

Jenny Harvey mentions that “J. Smith (1902) was excited by the prospects for a plant that produced, in his opinion, a large fiber yield per plant and per area. Despite this potential, extensive cultivation of olona ended probably around the time when the prized cordage was replaced with nylon fishing line and other synthetic materials.” [7]

Additional References

[1] “Plants in Hawaiian Culture,” by Beatrice H. Krauss, pages 27-28, 35, 38, 43, 44, 46, 73-74, 76-77, 85. [2] “Arts and Crafts of Hawaii,” by Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter H. Buck), page 217.

[3] “Hawaiian Herbs of Medicinal Value,” by D.M. Kaaiakamanu & J.K. Akina, page 71.

[4] “Resource Units in Hawaiian Culture” by Donald D. Kilolani Mitchell, pages 95-96, 103, 118-119, 149.

[5] “In Gardens of Hawaii” by Marie C. Neal, pages 319-320.

[6] “Hawaiian and Other Polynesian Gourds” by Ernest S. Dodge, pages 78, 79.

[7] “Laticifers in Olona and Ulu: Biological Comparison and Ethnobotanical Significance” by Jenny Harvey (Swarthmore College).

[8] “Genetic diversity and biogeography of the Hawaiian cordage plant, olonā ( Toucharida latifolia ; Urticaceae), based on RAPD markers” by Wisteria F. Loefflera and Clifford W. Morden, pages 1323-1335.

[9] “Hawai’i’s Plants and Animals–Biological Sketches of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park” by Charles P. Stone & Linda W. Pratt, page 251.

[10] “Lāʻau Hawaiʻi: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants” by Isabella Aiona Abbott, pages 59-61, 83, 91, 105-108, 124.

[11] “Ethnobotany of Hawaii” by Beatrice H. Krauss, pages 145, 174-175.