The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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When Unbranched As I
Saw Them, They Resemble At A Distance Pine-Apple Plants Thirty Times
Magnified.
But the mournful looking trees along the coast and all
about Hilo are mostly the Pandanus odoratissimus, a spreading
And
branching tree which grows fully twenty-five feet high, supports
itself among inaccessible rocks by its prop-like roots, and is one
of the first plants to appear on the newly-formed Pacific islands.
{62} Its foliage is singularly dense, although it is borne in tufts
of a quantity of long yucca-like leaves on the branches. The shape
of the tree is usually circular. The mournful look is caused by the
leaves taking a downward and very decided droop in the middle. At
present each tuft of leaves has in its centre an object like a green
pine-apple. This contains the seeds which are eatable, as is also
the fleshy part of the drupes. I find that it is from the seeds of
this tree and their coverings that the brilliant orange leis, or
garlands of the natives, are made. The soft white case of the
leaves and the terminal buds can also be eaten. The leaves are used
for thatching, and their tough longitudinal fibres for mats and
ropes. There is another kind, the Pandanus vacoa, the same as is
used for making sugar bags in Mauritius, but I have not seen it.
One does not forget the first sight of a palm. I think the banana
comes next, and I see them in perfection here for the first time, as
those in Honolulu grow in "yards," and are tattered by the winds.
It transports me into the tropics in feeling, as I am already in
them in fact, and satisfies all my cravings for something which
shall represent and epitomize their luxuriance, as well as for
simplicity and grace in vegetable form.
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