ʻOhana Hala Photograph by Heidi Fickinger
3 photos from left to right- fruit, roots, & fronds
Hala n. The pandanus or screw pine (Pandanus odoratissimus), native from southern Asia east to Hawaiʻi, growing at low altitudes, both cultivated and wild. It is a tree with many branches, which are tipped with spiral tufts of long narrow, spine-edged leaves; its base is supported by a clump of slanting aerial roots. The pineapple-shaped fruits are borne on female trees whereas the spikes of fragrant, pollenbearing flowers are borne separately on male trees. Many uses: leaves (lau hala) for mats, baskets, hats; the yellow to red fruit sections for leis, brushes; male flowers to scent tapa, their leaflike bracts to plait mats (see hīnano).
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