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Freycinetia arborea
ʻIeʻie (Freycinetia arborea) is a woody, brittle climber from the Pandan family, native to moist forests of the Pacific islands, especially Hawaii. It climbs into the canopy on aerial roots and is rarely grown outside its native range, so care guidance is limited.
Freycinetia arborea, or ʻIeʻie, is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to the Pacific Islands. ʻIeʻie is found in moist forest on the Hawaiian, Marquesas, Austral, Society, and Cook Islands, and Samoa It grows into the forest canopy, attaching itself to a host tree using aerial roots. It may also grow as a sprawling tangle on the forest floor.
The name originates from Proto-Oceanic *kiRekiRe reflected in other Freycinetia plants with related names across Polynesia: ʻieʻie in Tahiti refers to Freycinetia demissa while New Zealand's Freycinetia banksii is the kiekie.
Native Hawaiians plaited ʻieʻie into hīnaʻi hoʻomoe iʻa (fish baskets), hīnaʻi hoʻoluʻuluʻu (fish traps). The vine (or rather the split aerial roots) also became the framework for helmets worn by the aliʻi (mahiole iʻe).
Freycinetia angustissima · Freycinetia banksii · Giant Climbing Pandan · Giant climbing pandan · Freycinetia multiflora · Freycinetia percostata · Freycinetia scandens · Freycinetia sumatrana · Freycinetia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Freycinetia arborea 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.
