Native Butterfly Garden: Kipuka Puaulu

To have a true native Hawaiian butterfly garden, you'd have to plant a Hawaiian forest, or live near one. There are only two native butterflies, the Kamehameha Butterfly (Vanessa tameamea) and the Koa Butterfly (Udara blackburni). Both of these butterflies, adults and their larvae, feed on native plant species. At lower elevations especially, predators, parasites, and human activities impacting habitats have contributed to diminishing native Hawaiian butterfly populations, or even eliminating them.

Kipuka Puaulu is one of the few places easily accessible to the public where you still stand a chance at seeing living native butterflies. At Kipuka Puaulu, also known as Bird Park in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, you'll find native plants typical of the mesic forest growing in old, deep ash soil on Mauna Loa: koa, manele, 'ohi'a lehua, papala kepau, palapalai and other ferns, 'ala 'ala wai nui, and of course, mamaki. These natives, with the exceptions of perhaps koa and manele, are fairly easy to grow in your backyard with adequate water, rich soil with good drainage, and half the amount of fertilizer you normally use with non-natives. Although at Kipuka Puaulu was grazed by cattle, pigs and goats into the 1950s, today it is an example of successful resource management, a healthy forest that has been protected and replanted.

VIDEO: A walk through Kipuka Puaulu and a reading of excerpts from Pulelehua and Mamaki, at the mamaki grove under the koa trees, with yours truly.



Pulelehua and Mamaki is featured in this week's Big Island Weekly. To read the article, click here.

Mamaki, Hawaiian Nettle

When early Polynesians sailed their great double-hulled canoes to the pristine sands of Hawai'i, they brought with them a way of life that had sustained them in the ‘aina they left behind. The plants and animals they had chosen for the journey provided them with food, shelter, clothing, medicine, and other basic necessities. However, the strange new landscape offered its own unique bounty of flora and fauna never before seen by human eyes. The resourceful settlers found some of these forms of life particularly useful; thus, the first Hawaiians became part of a native ecosystem, joining a web of life like no other place on Earth, isolated in the middle of the Pacific.

Unlike nettles elsewhere, the endemic Mamaki (Pipturus albidus) is a nettle without prickles. It evolved over thousands of years until it no longer needed to expend energy creating a defense against the grazing animals that later impacted the landscape along with the humans who brought them. The healing properties of nettles are well known in many cultures across the globe, and some Hawaiian uses for mamaki are similar to those found elsewhere.

The mamaki in my backyard has perfect, large, shiny but hairy leaves, but since I live in town at 400 feet elevation there’s little chance that Kamehameha butterfly larvae will ever visit. However, just in case they ever do decide to drop in, I’m happy to say I’m ready for them.

Traditional Hawaiian Uses
Fiber: Inner layer of bark yields fiber for kapa (barkcloth)
Medicine: Leaves made into tea, tonic. Taken to reduce high blood pressure and high cholestrerol.

Habitat
Mamaki grows on all islands except Ni'ihau and Kaho'olawe, usually on the edges of the understory of mesic and rain forests, at altitudes between 1500 to 4000 feet, sometimes to 6000 feet.

Host Plant
Primary food source for some native insects, including the larvae of the endemic Hawaiian butterfly, pulelehua or Kamehameha butterfly (Vanessa tameamea)

Propagation
Best by seed – after separated from the berry they sprout easily and usually stronger plants result. Also can propagate from cuttings. For propagation tips, click here.

Landscaping Use
Can be shaped into a tree to 10’ in wet conditions; grows as a spreading, low bush in dry conditions. Not aggressive and usually takes well to pruning if no more than one-third is removed. White mulberry-like fruit attractive to birds, which spread the seeds. Plant in nutrient- rich, well-draining soil in semi-shaded to shaded location.

Sources
Common Hawaiian Trees, Kaulunani Friends of the Urban Forest
Growing Hawai'i's Native Plants, Kerin Lilleeng-Rosenberger
Growing Native Hawaiian Plants, Heidi Leianuenue Bornhorst
In the Gardens of Hawaii, Marie Neal
Plants in Hawaiian Medicine, Beatrice Krauss

New Book: Pulelehua and Mamaki

I’m happy to announce that this month my new book is available throughout Hawaii nei!

Published by Bishop Museum Press, Pulelehua and Mamaki is my first children’s picture book, beautifully illustrated by native Hawaiian fine artist Harinani Orme. It’s a narrative about the life cycle and relationship of the native Hawaiian butterfly and its host plant, the mamaki (Pipturus albidus), an endemic nettle with many Hawaiian ethnobotanical uses. These two native species coevolved as part of the unique ecological webs found in Hawai'i rainforests.

I’ll be doing my first reading and book signing at Bishop Museum’s Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, Hawaii Island, on Saturday, February 28, 9 am to 2:30 pm, in celebration of the 5th Annual Grow Hawaiian Horticultural Festival. The reading is at 10:30 am, and there will be other fun educational activities, so bring the keiki!

The official book launch will be in March in Honolulu, followed by more reading/signing engagements in the coming months, including the 4th Annual Hawai'i Book and Music Festival at Honolulu city hall grounds in May. Pulelehua and Mamaki will be available soon through online retailers, too. You’ll be seeing updates on this blog. I hope I’ll meet you on the trail!

5th Annual GROW HAWAIIAN Horticultural Festival
Saturday, February 28, 9 am to 2:30 pm
Presented by Hawaii Forest and Trail

Schedule of Events
MAIN PROGRAM (big canopy)

Emcee: Tom Cummings
9:00 - 9:30 Opening, Greeting and Pule Virginia Isbell, Danny Akaka, Kanu o ka ‘Aina

9:30 - 9:40 About Amy Greenwell: Meg Greenwell

9:40 - 10:20 Botanical Gardens Round Table: David Orr (Waimea), Lisa Raymond (Maui Nui), Chipper Wichman (NTBG), Alice Kitajima (Lyon), Naomi Hoffman (Honolulu Botanic Garden); Peter Van Dyke (AGG)

10:20 - 11:00 Hawaiian Tattoo: Keone Nunes (Author, artist)

11:00 - 12:00 Cultural Round Table: Moderated discussion – Hannah Springer (moderator), Billy Parris, Bobby Punihaole, Sonny Keakealani

12:00 - 12:40 Micronesian singing and dancing

1:00 - 2:00 Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance: Bernice Akamine (Moderator) Marie MacDonald, Rocky Jensen, Moana Eisele

2:00 - 2:30 Closing and Pule (Kanu o ka ‘Aina)

GARDEN TOURS (meet at kukui tree near the Garden office)

10:30 Conservation and horticulture tour - Guide Bill Garnett
12:00 Ethnobotany tour - Guide Bobby Camara
12:00 Taro tour - Guide Jerry Konanui

***BOOK READING***
10:30 Pulelehua and Mamaki by Janice Crowl

OTHER ATTRACTIONS (drop in any time)

Ask a Scientist (near main canopies):
Plant Identifications - Clyde Imada, Marie Bruegmann, Shelley James
Strange Fruit ID - Ken Love
Insects - Pat Conant, David Preston, Ron Englund
Plant Doctor - Scot Nelson
Propagation & nursery care - Bill Garnett
Grafting demonstrations - Sunao Kadooka
Master Gardeners
Kalo - Jerry Konanui
Botanical Gardens - National Tropical Botanical Gardens, Lyon, Honolulu Botanical Garden, Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Maui Nui Botanical Garden


GARDEN ARTISANS (near main canopies)

Weaving - Lehua Domingo, Debbie Toko, Jim Skibby, Shirley Kauhaihao

Wood Working - Kala Willis
Ipu Gourds - Elroy Juan
Kapa making and dying - Pam Barton, Lisa Raymond, Bernice Akamine, Moana Eiseley, Marie MacDonald
Quilts - Harriet Soong
Lei - Patsy Ivy,
Cordage - Larry Kuamo‘o
Pohaku shaping - Gavin Rin, Kaipo Kalua‘a

BOOK SIGNINGS

Herb Kane, Craig Elevitch, Janice Crowl, Marie MacDonald, Lucia Jensen

HULA DEMONSTRATIONS - Ulalia Berman

LOMILOMI DEMONSTRATIONS - Hawai'i Lomilomi Associaton

KEIKI ACTIVITIES: Nose flutes - Albert Carbonel; Ohe kapala - George Place; Makahiki games

COMMUNITY GROUPS, ORGANIZATIONS, OTHER FRIENDS of Amy Greenwell Garden have displays and information tables throughout the garden.

Near Garden office:
LEI DISPLAY (under kukui tree )
SUPER J’S HAWAIIAN FOOD
NATIVE PLANTS SALES