About

Hawai‘i is one of the most geographically isolated places on the planet, being over 2,000 miles from a continental landmass and nearly 1,000 miles from even the tiniest of islands. It was therefore very difficult for the original plant and animals inhabitants to colonize the islands and few actually made it. Before Hawaiians arrived in the islands the only animals present were birds, insects, a couple small reptiles, and one mammal – the hoary bat. The birds brought with them most of the flowering plants and the rest were carried over by the wind along with the spores of ferns and fungi. Scientists estimate that a new species arrived in Hawai‘i once every 20,000 to 50,000 years.

Successful plant immigrants found the islands a fertile land to occupy, with a moderate climate and an abundant rainfall. There were no grazing animals and few insects or pests in addition to minimal competition for sunlight and nutrients. These colonizing species rapidly spread out over their new home.

As these plants spread out across the islands they began to change, slowly forming new species. Several influences facilitated these changes. First of all their new habitat was very different from their old ones. The absence of grazing animals, for instance, caused many plant species to become more docile by losing their thorns and toxins. The absence of bees to pollinate some plants caused the plants to change in order to attract other animals such as birds or fruit flies.

There was also the ecological variability of Hawai‘i, which contains virtually every ecological zone on the planet. Therefore a plant could land and inhabit a dry plains area, and as it spread out it found itself within a rainforest and had to adapt accordingly. There was also the genetic isolation of species. If only a few individuals accomplished the journey to Hawai‘i the genetic pool is very small and inbreeding is inevitable. In addition there was further isolation within the chain, such as the isolation between islands or even the isolation between the steep mountain ridges separating the valleys.

Due to these factors the original species the arrived in Hawai‘i became completely new and unique species. These species are known as endemic, meaning they are found here and no where else in the world. Hawai‘i has the highest rate of endemism in the world, over 90%. While this means our species are original, it also means they are vulnerable because if they disappear from Hawai’i, they are extinct. Although Hawai‘i constitutes less than 1% of the United States land mass, it posts the most threatened, endangered, and extinct species.

Many of these plants species are conserved and displayed here at the garden. These species are propagated both for conservation projects that reintroduce them into the wild and also for private consumption. That’s right, you can buy endangered Hawaiian plants at our garden for your private landscaping desires.

Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is located within the ahupua’a, or traditional land division encompassing costal and mountain resources, of Kealakekua. Kealakekua, which mean “the path of the gods,” is a culturally and historically significant area.

Near the shoreline one would find coconut trees and small patches of ‘uala, or sweet potato, intermittedly dispersed among the various cooking, storage, and living facilities. It was here near the seashore where majority of the craft work was done such as beating bark cloth, weaving, and carving as well ocean activities such as fishing and gathering seaweed and other marine resources.

As we head mauka, or towards the mountain, from the coast we cross the lowland dry plains, known as kula lands. These lands still suffer from salt spray and very arid conditions, allowing few useful plants to grow in this zone. Typically wauke, or paper mulberry, from which Hawaiians made their bark cloth, was grown in this area, which persisted until about 500 feet elevation.

Above these wauke plantations began the ‘ulu, or breadfruit, groves for which the traditional zone, kalu’ulu, derives its name. These large trees provided considerable amount of food and also provided shade and captured moisture to house other sub-canopy crops. The ‘ulu groves typically extended to about 1,000 feet elevation, at which point the rain line would allow for more intensive agriculture.

The major agricultural zone, known as ‘āpa‘a, began with the rain at about 1,000 feet and extended up to about 3,000 feet. This is the zone in which Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is located as well as the archeological remains known as the Kona Field System.

While majority of the Hawaiian agricultural systems utilized terraces, the Kona Field Systems, possibly because this area is relatively so dry when compared to the rest of the state, developed an original system consisting of long rock walls, known as kua’iwi, that ran parallel to the slope of the mountain. In between these divisions was heavily planted with the major food crops of kalo, or taro, and ‘uala, using techniques such as mounding and mulching to conserve the scarce water as much as possible. Along the walls, which doubled as paths through the plantations, were planted other significant crops, namely kō, or sugar cane, and kī, or ti leaf. Along the upper boundary of this zone we would find less significant crops such as mai’a, or banana, and uhi, or yams.

Mauka of the ‘āpa‘a zone began the wao akua, or realm of the gods. This was the dense forest that was unaltered by the Hawaiians. Several resources were collected from this area including the Hawaiian honeycreepers, collected for their feathers, and koa (Acacia koa), which was felled as lumber for canoes.