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Colubrina oppositifolia
Kauila is a rare Hawaiian endemic tree in the buckthorn family, known mainly from dry and mesic forests, and now very rare in the wild. Growing it is mostly a matter of mimicking a warm, well-drained tropical forest edge.
Colubrina oppositifolia, known as kauila in Hawaiian, is a rare species of flowering tree in the family Rhamnaceae endemic to Hawaii.
It can be found in Hawaiian dry, coastal mesic, and mixed mesic forests at elevations of 240–920 m (790–3,020 ft) on the islands of Oʻahu (Waiʻanae Range) and Hawaiʻi (on the slopes of Kohala, Hualālai, and Mauna Loa). There is also one individual remaining on Maui. Associated plants include alaheʻe (Psydrax odorata) and ʻohe kukuluāeʻo (Reynoldsia sandwicensis).
Native Hawaiians valued the hard wood of C. oppositifolia and that of a related species, Alphitonia ponderosa, both of which were known as kauila. Consequently, the exact usage of C. oppositifolia wood is unknown. It is believed to have been used in pou (house posts), hohoa (round kapa beaters), ʻiʻe kūkū (square kapa beaters), ʻō (harpoons), hiʻa kā ʻupena (fishing net shuttles), ihe paheʻe (javelins), pololū (spears), pāhoa (daggers), lāʻa pālau (clubs), leiomano (shark tooth clubs), ʻōʻō (digging sticks), pieces for ʻume (a wand game), and ʻūkēkē (musical bows).
Asian nakedwood · Colubrina beccariana · Las Animas nakedwood · Cuban nakedwood · Soldierwood · Sierra nakedwood · Pondo weeping-thorn · Colubrina pedunculata · Texan hogplum · Colubrina travancorica · Nakedwood
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Colubrina oppositifolia 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.
