Examples in the Honolulu Zoo Children’s Discovery Forest
Canoe Plants
Plants brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers during initial settling voyages. (Hawaiian, Common, and Scientific names)
‘Awa: Kava
Piper methysticum
Kalo: Taro
Colocasia esculenta
Kī: Ti
Cordyline fruticosa
Ko: Sugar Cane
Saccharum officinarum
Mai‘a: banana
Musa x paradisiaca
‘Uala: Sweet potato
Ipomoea batatasNative Plants
Plants that arrived in a location by natural means though wind, wing or wave. Native plants can be endemic (unique to one place in the world) or indigenous (exist in different places with similar environments).
‘Ae‘ae
Bacopa monnieri
Alahe‘e
Psydrax odorata
Koai‘a
Acacia koaia
Māmaki
Pipturus albidus
O‘ahu Sedge
Carex wahuensis
‘Ōhi‘a Lehua
Metrosideros polymorphaPlants as Habitats: Food Plants
Native plants such as grasses, sedges, leafy herbs, fruiting shrubs and trees that provide a variety of food for nēnē and other native birds to ensure a healthy diet. (Hawaiian and Scientific names)
Plants as Habitat: Nesting/Perching
Native shrubs and smaller trees that protect ground-nesting birds like the nēnē and larger trees that provide perching and nesting sites for raptors like the ‘io and pueo.
Additional Food, Nesting, and Perching Plants:
- Alahe‘e: Psydrax odorata – Fruit is eaten by birds.
- O‘ahu Sedge: Carex wahuensis – A food source for nēnē.
- Māmaki: Pipturus albidus – Food for birds and the Kamehameha butterfly caterpillars
- ‘Ōhi‘a lehua: Metrosideros polymorpha – Native birds feed on the nectar from its flowers.