Hawaiian Name(s): la‘amiaScientific Name: Cresentia cujete
Vernacular Name: calabash tree
Family: Bignoniaceae
Status: post-Contact cultivar
Authority: L.
Description: Tree.
Habitat Cultivated (native of tropical America).
Medicines:
Non Medicinal Uses: Hollowed fruit used to make rattles for hula in the historic period (formerly base was made of small gourds, see Lageraria siceraria or niu, see Cocos nucifera) (Krauss 1993:81–82). In the Ethnology Collection at Bishop Museum there is a post-contact example of the fruit carved with an intricate design.
Specific gravity of wood: unknown
Famous Locations:
Mele:
`Ōlelo Noeau:
Dye Color and Parts:
Kino lau:
Location on Bishop Museum Kalihi Campus: Large tree in front parking lot
Propagation Information:
Seed: Seed length approximately 7 mm. Photograph: H.Lennstrom.
Click for image
