Hawaiian Name(s): milo

Scientific Name: Thespesia populnea

Vernacular Name: portia tree

Family: Malvaceae

Status: indigenous?

Authority: (L.) Sol. ex Corrêa

Description: Tree/shrub to 13 m tall.

Habitat Found between 0–275 m in protected coastal sites on most main islands (Wagner et al. 1990:902).

Medicines:

Non Medicinal Uses: Milo may have been brought by the Polynesians for wood and fiber (Wagner et al. 1990:902); made into "beautiful bowls" for poi (Krauss 1993:22; Malo 1951:23); fruit for yellowish-green dye (Krauss 1993:66); canoe hulls (Abbott 1992:80). Young leaves edible (Lucas 1982: 56). In the Ethnology Collection at Bishop Museum there is a post-contact example of the wood made into a bowl. An archaeologial site on Lāni‘i yielded a house post identfied as milo.

Specific gravity of wood: 0.6

Famous Locations: There were apparently many milo surrounding the home of Kamehameha I at Waikiki.

Mele:

`Ōlelo Noeau: He milo ka la‘au, mimilo ke aloha. Milo is the plant; love goes round and round.

Dye Color and Parts: Yellowish green (fruit wall)

Kino lau:

Location on Bishop Museum Kalihi Campus:

Propagation Information: Hawaiian Native Plant Propagation Database.
Native Plants Hawaii.

Seed: Seed length approximately 8.4 mm. Photograph: B.Kennedy.
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Microscopy
Cross Section: Field of view: 2.6 mm x 1.6 mm. Photograph: H.Lennstrom.
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Radial Section: Field of view: 2.6 mm x 1.6 mm. Photograph: H.Lennstrom.
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Tangential Section: Field of view: 2.6 mm x 1.6 mm. Photograph: H.Lennstrom.
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