Pōhuehue (Ipomoea pes-caprae subsp. brasiliensis)


Pōhuehue, also known as the beach morning glory, is an indigenous plant that can be found on sandy beaches. This plant is vine-like and it makes good ground cover. Different species would have different color flowers. I've seen pink, purple, and white. I actually took this picture at UH Mānoa, and unfortunately this was the only flower that the plant produced.

Usages
According to Hui Kū Maoli Ola, pōhuehue was used as a poultice for wounds, sores, and broken bones. This plant was also used as a famine food, but if the Hawaiians consumed too much, it would be extremely dangerous because of it's chemical composition. Since it has some sort of toxicity in it, pregnant woman would eat the young leaf buds prior to giving birth so it'll decrease delivery time. I'm not sure if that's safe or not for the baby, but I guess with no modern medicine they'd try anything to quicken the process. The vines of pōhuehue were also used to make rope.

Fun fact about me!
I'm actually allergic to the sap of the beach morning glory. When I did an internship on the Big Island, we were cleaning up a heiau that had pōhuehue growing at the base and between the rocks. I was pulling the pōhuehue out from the ground and after a while I noticed my arms started to itch and burn. Silly me wasn't wearing long sleeves and the sap got all over my arms. When I washed my arms with water, my arms looked like they were whipped! Where the sap was, it left itchy and burning welts. I definitely learned my lesson that day!

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 4, 2018 at 1:42 AM

    I didn’t know this flower, but it’s so cute ! I want to try to find variety of colors beach morning glory.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 5, 2018 at 2:15 AM

    That is so cool. I've never seen this flower before the next i go to the beach i will look for it thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete

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