Canoe plants

As a canoe plants are called plant, who took the ancient Polynesians from their original area of ​​settlement in outrigger canoes and introduced to other Pacific Islands. The deliberate introduction of seeds or young plants in new habitats is called Ethelochorie.

The term canoe plant is used in particular in connection with the Polynesian colonization of Hawaii 1,700 years ago.

The following plants are considered as canoe plants in Hawaii:

• Aleurites moluccana ( kukui, or candlenut candlenut )
• Alocasia macrorrhiza ( ape, Riesenblättriges arrow sheet or giant taro )
• Artocarpus altilis ( ulu, breadfruit )
• Bambusa vulgaris ( height, common bamboo)
• Broussonetia papyrifera ( wauke, paper mulberry )
• Calophyllum inophyllum ( Kamani, rosewood)
• Cocos nucifera ( niu, coconut)
• Colocasia esculenta ( kalo, taro )
• Cordia subcordata ( kou Kordie )
• Cordyline fruticosa (Ki, Ti Plant )
• Curcuma domestica ( Olena, turmeric)
• Dioscorea alata ( uhi, yam )

• Hibiscus tiliaceus ( hau, Linden Leaf Hibiscus )
• Ipomoea batatas ( uala, sweet potato )
• Lagenaria siceraria ( ipu, Gourd )
• Morinda citrifolia ( noni, Indian mulberry )
• Musa ( maia, banana)
• Tectorius Pandanus ( hala, pandanus )
• Piper methysticum ( awa, kava )
• Saccharum officinarum ( kō, sugar cane )
• Syzygium malaccense ( Ohia ai, water apple)
• Tacca leontopetaloides ( pia, East Indian arrowroot )
• Thespesia populnea ( milo, Portiabaum )
• Touchardia latifolia ( Olona, nettle )
• Zingiber zerumbet ( Awapuhi, shell ginger)

Seed and pollen samples from the Makauwahi cave on Kauai show that Pandanus and Kordien grew in Hawaii before the arrival of the Polynesians. Were also found on Laysan fossil pollen of the coconut palm, but this does not exclude the possibility that Polynesians additional seeds and seedlings brought to the islands.