taro, bananas, coconuts and sweet potato are some of the traditional plants grown around here for food. I don't know if the sweet potato was brought over on the voyaging canoes or not, though. Ferns may have already been here, I'm not sure about those.

It might also depend on how you define "traditional". Traditional to the Hawaiian islands? All of polynesia? Micronesia? Endemic or foods brought over on the canoes? Traditional food now is stew and rice, I think. Or maybe plate lunch, ;)

In addition to the ones previously mentioned, ulu (breadfruit, Artocarpus atilis), uhi (true yam, Dioscorea batatas) and pia (polynesian arrowroot, Tacca leontopetaloides) were minor crops. Other polynesian introduced food plants that were of some importance in Hawai'i include ki (Ti, Cordyline fruticosa), 'ohi'a'ai (Mountain apple, Eugenia malaccensis), ko (sugarcane) and kukui (Candle nut, Aleurites moluccana).

Good references for this subject are:
www.canoeplants.com
La'au Hawai'i by Isabella Abbott
Native Planters by Green, Green and Pukui

That's a wonderful website. Thank you so much!

'ape'ape(Alocasia macrorrhiza), and noni(Morinda citrifolia) were eaten by the Hawaiians in times famine.

Other plants that grew in the wild were also eaten and many used in times of famine. The inside part of the trunk of the hapu'u fern was eaten in times of famine. And a native fern Diplazium sandwichianum was also eaten.

I don't think many (if any) native plants were grown by pacific islanders to use as food. The main economic plants in Hawaii (bradfruit, ti, kukui, mountain apple, kamani, noni, apeape, taro, pia, olena, sweet potatoes, yams, awa, and there are more) were introduced by aboriginal people (these are NOT native plants). The first botanists in the Hawaiian islands have recorded seeing polynesian introductions to be the dominant species near human settlements. Native island plants provide little, if any, food for people, although they may provide resources for construction, and the gathering and hunting of food. ANd many were used for food in times of famine.

Right. The original question was regarding native plants, and I also have not heard of pre-contact cultivation of native plants for food, although I suspect it occured to a some degree in the form of managing natural or spontaneous stands of plants at the edges of fields and compounds. I think this is particularly true if you include native plants that were consumed primarily for medicinal purposes.

Also, after thinking about it, I would suggest that the various limu species, although not cultivated that I know of per se, should certainly be considered native food plants of major importance. If limu was deliberately grown/managed in fishponds (I don't know if any species were) they should fit the bill as native plants cultivated for food.

Finally, there were many cultivars of taro and sweetpotato that were selected by largely natural environmental factors for suitability in the various Hawaiian microclimates and were subsequently unique to the islands. Several of these persist, and a few continue to be of economic importance. These are generally (and correctly, I think) referred to as native cultivars. Any suggestions for an alternative name?
-Ted

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