Hawaiian Name(s): mau‘u lā‘ili, mau‘u hōula ili

Scientific Name: Sisyrinchium acre

Vernacular Name: none

Family: Iridaceae

Status: endemic

Authority: Mann

Description: Herb15-30 cm tall.

Habitat S. acre occurs in open, dry to boggy habitats and subalpine shrubland, 1550–2950 m on East Maui and Hawai‘i (Wagner et al. 1990:1446).

Medicines: The leaves are mashed & mixed with salt, kō kea (white sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum), and ‘auko‘i root bark (Senna occidentails) used to clean the skin diseases and to draw out the liquid of the splotchy skin disease, pu‘upu‘u hakuma. The treatment is combined with the liquid of ‘aeia (Nothocestrum spp.) and ‘ahakea (Bobea spp.) and fish, lu‘au, kukui (Aleurites moluccana), pōpolo (Solanum americanum), poi, as well as ko‘oko‘olau tea and brackish water (Chun 1994:220).

Non Medicinal Uses: Leaves and juice used to give a blue stain to tattoos; these stains could be used to prove one had been to the area near Kilauea where it grows (Pukui & Elbert 1986:243).

Specific gravity of wood: n/a

Famous Locations:

Mele:

`Ōlelo Noeau:

Dye Color and Parts:

Kino lau:

Location on Bishop Museum Kalihi Campus:

Propagation Information: Native Plants Hawaii.