A recent Star-Advertiser article on the comeback in captivity of the alala, our native Hawaiian crow, inspires this article on hoawa, an endemic Hawaiian plant that was one of the alala’s food sources.

Joseph Rock, the first official botanist for the Territory of Hawaii and a faculty member of the College of Hawaii (now University of Hawaii), discovered that about 80 percent of hoawa fruit capsules in Kona were being consumed by alala, which at that time were "very common."

The islands of Hawaii serve as the quintessential platform for the evolutionary concept of "adaptive radiation" – the evolution of an ancestral species into new species that adapt to environmental niches. Hoawa is a sterling showcase of this evolvement.

The theory is that a solitary hoawa (Pittosporum) seed, probably from a Fijian source, arrived by bird to Hawaii. That seed sprouted and eventually supported a growing population.

Time passed, and seeds from this viable community were dispersed to other island environments by birds carrying them in their stomachs or feathers. Segregated from their parent populace, each new population, influenced by haphazard events or natural selection, transformed over time into unique species.

Today, Hawaii is home to 10 endemic hoawa. Other lesser-known Hawaiian names include haawa, papahekili, aawa, aawa hua and hoawa lau nui.

Hoawa are enticing evergreen shrubs and small trees. They survive in a diverse habitat range of dry, mesic, wet and subalpine forests.

The slender leaves are clustered and tufted at the branch ends and exhibit shades of brown, dainty, wooly hairs (hoawa is sometimes referred to as Hawaiian magnolia because of this appearance).

Compact, delicately scented, petite flowers emerge from stems under the leaves, or in leaf axils, and range in color from white, cream, red or yellowish-purple, to form a corolla tube.

The leathery or woody-valved fruit capsule is walnut shaped. Inside, the numerous black or reddish-black seeds are entrenched in a sticky resin. The alala pecked open and fed on these oily hoawa seeds.

Hawaiians used hoawa to construct the gunwales of a canoe. The plant also furnished basic firewood and was a practitional ingredient utilized by specialized kahuna. Medicinally, hoawa was mixed with other botanicals and applied as a liquid massage for ai palaha (swollen neck) or similar ailments.

Hoawa, being relatively drought- and wind-tolerant, is superb for Hawaiian landscaping. It can be in partial or full sun as a focal point or charming accent specimen. Group plantings can provide a hedge for privacy.

The milestone research conducted by Howard Sakai and James Carpenter on the variety and nutritional value of foods consumed by alala nestlings recommended that hoawa (among other native Hawaiian plants) "always be an integral part of the managed forest ecosystem."

Hoawa embodies the symbiotic relationship between flora and fauna in Hawaii’s fragile and magical environment.

Duane Choy is a native Hawaiian plant specialist. Reach him at HanaHou@ecologyfund.net.