Kauila (Colubrina oppositifolia)

Photo courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr

Hawaiian name: Kauila
Botanical name: Colubrina oppositifolia
Family: Rhamnaceae (Buckthorn family)
Status: Endemic, Endangered
Where found: Maui, Hawai‘i & O‘ahu O (Wa)/ M/ leeward H
Water/Light: Dry to mesic, with full sun exposure
Elevation range: 790 to 3,020feet
Height: 16 to 43 feet

Hawaiians called two species by the name of kauila: Alphitonia ponderosa and Colubrina oppositifolia. Both are rare, but Colubrina oppositifolia is endangered; today no wild individuals remain on the island of Maui but there are conservation efforts protecting trees on Oahu and Hawaiʻi. Compared to Alphitonia, Colubrina oppositifolia is said to be the easier of the two to grow in cultivation by the botanists that write about the species in Native Plants of Hawaiʻi.

Kauila is one of the hardest of all native woods. Since both species were named kauila, it is uncertain which species was most used most, but metal was unknown among early Hawaiians. The wood is so dense that it sinks in water. Kauila wood was fashioned into many useful and ceremonial items, including but not limited to ʻau koʻi (handles) for stone chisels, pupupu hale (beams) for houses, iʻe kuku and hohoa (kapa beaters), pololū (spears), pahe‘e (darts or javelins), pahoa (daggers), leiomano (shark tooth clubs), kāhili (tall feathered banners), papa hōlua (land sled runners), ki‘i (images), melomelo (fishing lures) and ‘ō‘ō (digging sticks for farming). Kauila wood was also crafted into musical instruments and ka lā‘au (hula sticks). Its leaves and bark produce a bluish dye for kapa.