Hala Pepe
Five plant forms were commonly used to decorate the kuahu altar, and in most halau hula these five were considered essential . . . Gods and demi-gods were represented by the five main plant forms on the altar. Ku-ka-‘ohi’a-laka, a form of Ku in the ‘ohi’a lehua, was one such god. Hi’iaka was there in the palai fern, and Kapo was represented by the halapepe. Lau-ka-‘ie’ie was a beautiful demi-goddess whose brother obtained for her a chiefly husband from Kaua’i. She was transformed into the ‘ie’ie vine and was so represented on the altar. From legend also came the four Maile sisters, Maile-ha’i-wale, Maile-kaluhea, Maile-lau-li’i, and Maile-pakaha, who were represented by one or more varieties of the maile . . . In the midst of the greenery on the kuahu altar was set a small block of lama wood, representing the goddess Laka.
Hula Historical Perspectives, by Dorothy B. Barrere, Mary Kawena Pukui, and Marion Kelly (1980)
Hala pepe, less commonly known as ‘ie’ie, is a native Hawaiian tree in the agave family. It occurs in native dry and mesic forests between 1000-2000 feet in elevation. This beautiful and unusual-looking tree has ribbon-like leaves in tufts at the end of many branches, red berries, and clusters of yellow or greenish-yellow to yellowish-orange flowers a few inches long. Naturalist Joseph F. Rock observed hala pepe greater than 35 feet tall in certain localities in the early 1900s. Rock also notes that hala pepe flowers appear in the early spring in the drier localities and in the summer in regions with more rainfall. The wood is soft and was used for carving idols in traditional times.1 Renowned lei maker Marie McDonald describes the use of hala pepe flowers in traditional lei. The flowers were used in clusters and with other dry forest materials, or were strung through the sides into lei poepoe, or round lei. According to McDonald, the hala pepe was not a common lei material, but it was used by people who lived in the dry forest because it may have offered the only flowers suitable for use.2
There are six native species of hala pepe in Hawai’i, all of which are in the genus Pleomele. A unique species is found on each of the following: Kaua’i (P. aurea), Maui and Moloka’i (P. auwahiensis), Lana’i (P. fernaldii), and Hawai’i (P. hawaiiensis). Two unique species are found on O’ahu (P. forbesii and P. halapepe). According to Rock, hala pepe was “very common in North and South Kona, Hawai`i, as well as in Ka`u, in the district Hilea. On the Kula slopes of Maui there once existed a forest of this tree, the remnants of which can still be seen. While the tree is very common on the other islands, it is rather scarce on O`ahu, and not quite as plentiful on Moloka`i as on Kaua`i, where it forms almost pure stands at the bottom of the cliffs below Kaholuamano, near Waimea.”
The once-common hala pepe on Hawai’i was listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October 1996. According to the Service, this hala pepe was known historically from the Kohala Mountains to Ka’u. A total of approximately 300 individuals from nine populations are currently known on federal, state, and private land on Kohala at Pu’u Kamoa; on Hualalai at Pu’uwa’awa’a, Ka’upulehu, and Kaloko; in South Kona at Manuka and Kahuku; and in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.
The endangered hala pepe is a component of the critically imperiled dry forests of the Big Island. It is associated with dozens of culturally significant plants, including uhiuhi, kauila, ‘aiea, wiliwili, ‘iliahi, pua pilo, mamane, naio, olopua, alahe’e, huehue, ‘ulei, ko’oko’olau, ‘ilima, and ‘ohi’a. Hala pepe and associated species are threatened by land development for residential and recreational purposes; habitat destruction by introduced cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats; weeds, such as fountain grass, koa haole, Christmas berry, and lantana; fire; natural disasters; and lack of reproduction in all but two of the populations. (Only the Kaloko and Holei Pali in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park populations are successfully reproducing at this time.) Efforts by the National Park Service, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lyon Arboretum, and the Hawai’i Division of Forestry and Wildlife are being taken to propagate and plant hala pepe in the wild.
The Service’s recovery plan for hala pepe and other endangered plants on the Big Island (1998) calls for the construction of protective fencing around known populations of hala pepe and the removal of introduced ungulates and weeds. Outplantings are recommended in management units free of threats in suitable areas, such as Kohala, HVNP, Manuka Natural Area Reserve, Pu’uwa’awa’a, and Kaloko. The Hawai’i Board of Land and Natural Resources recently declined an offer by the community-based Ka ‘Ahahui ‘O Pu’u Wa’awa’a to reforest and recover endangered species at Pu’uwa’awa’a, where the two largest populations of endangered hala pepe occur. Auwe noho’i!
1. The Indigenous Trees of the Hawaiian Islands, by Joseph F. Rock (1913,1974)
2. Ka Lei: The Leis of Hawai`i, by Marie A. McDonald (1978)
— Marjorie Ziegler
Volume 12, Number 9 March 2002
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