Scientific Name: Caparis sandwichiana
Endemic: All HI as well as some of the Northwestern Islands
Description: Maiapilo is a small sprawling shrub with soft, light green leaves, fragrant white flowers and brittle stems. The large white flowers are extremely fragrant and look as though it is a cross between a rose and an ‘Ohi’a Lehua flower. Simply put, if you have a white rose and take out all the center petals and replace them with a white ‘Ohi’a lehua flower, you’ll have a maiapilo flower. These are night blooming flowers which usually open up in the early evening and by mid morning the next day they are wilted. Generally during the night, native moths pollinate the flowers when taking nectar. They are most likely attracted by the bright white reflection of the flowers in the moonlight and also by their beautiful scent. Once the flowers are pollinated small cucumber-like fruit, 2-4 inches in length begin to develop. The fruit is filled with bright orange pulp and numerous small brownish-black seeds.
Distribution: This exceedingly rare endemic plant is found on the coast of all the main islands including some of the off shore islets as well as some of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The plant pictured here is one of the last known plants on the eastern side of O’ahu, there were two plants side by side but the other fell victim to a recent construction of a walking path.
Cultural Uses: Although this plant is a relative of capers, there is no known cultural use at this time.
Landscape Uses and Care:This is an excellent plant for the xeriscape garden since it requires very little water once established in the ground. It is also an ideal plant for the “Moon Garden” since its big white flowers bloom at night, it will shine and shimmer in the moonlight. Be on the watch for cabbage moth caterpillars that occasionally munch on the leaves of this plant. Full sun and well drained soil is best for this plant and letting the ground dry out in between watering is a good idea also.
Additional Info: As mentioned above, these plants are most likely pollinated by native moths that feed at night. Currently we are working on a coastal restoration where this plant naturally grows and have outplanted over 800 of them in areas that were cleared of invasive weeds like kiawe and koa haole. Within the next month we plan to outplant another 600 in this same area in hopes to return this site to how it may have looked centuries ago. Today, with this plant’s increasing rarity around the state due to overdevelopment of its coastal habitat, more areas need to be restored not only to help the plant itself but everything else that may depend on it. It is very important to protect all native Hawaiian life because whether it’s directly or indirectly, all things are affected.
Maiapilo
