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Alyxia stellata
Also called Climbing Chain Fruit
Maile (Alyxia stellata) is a fragrant climbing or scandent shrub from the Pacific, valued in Hawaii for its aromatic bark and used in traditional lei making. It needs warm, humid, wet tropical conditions and is best grown outdoors or in a large greenhouse.
Alyxia stellata, known as maile in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that is native to the tropical Pacific from Queensland, Australia, to Hawaii, USA. It grows as either a twining liana, scandent shrub, or small erect shrub, and is one of the few vines that are endemic to the islands. The leaves are usually ternate, sometimes opposite, and can show both types on the same stem. Flowers are quite inconspicuous and have a sweet and light fragrance of honey. The bark is most fragrant and exudes a slightly sticky, milky sap when punctured, characteristic of the family Apocynaceae. The entire plant contains coumarin, a sweet-smelling compound that is also present in vanilla grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), woodruff (Galium odoratum) and mullein (Verbascum spp.). Fruit are oval and dark purple when ripe.
Alyxia stellata ranges from northeastern Queensland to the tropical Pacific, including the Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaiian Islands, Marianas, Marquesas, New Caledonia, Niue, Pitcairn Islands, Samoan Islands, Society Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Islands, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alyxia stellata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
