TY - JOUR AU - Wichman, Juliana Mikioi PY - 2012/07/02 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Olonā (Touchardia latifolia Gaud.): Cultivating the wild populations for sustainable use and revitalization of cultural Hawaiian practices JF - Ethnobotany Research and Applications JA - Ethnobot. Res. App. VL - 10 IS - 0 SE - Research DO - UR - https://ethnobotanyjournal.org/index.php/era/article/view/460 SP - 247-252 AB - <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 10.65pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;"><strong>Olonā</strong></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;">&nbsp;(<em>Touchardia latifolia</em></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;">&nbsp;Gaudich.) is an endemic Hawaiian plant used by the Hawaiians to make some of the strongest cordage in the world.&nbsp;Within the<span>&nbsp;</span><strong>ahupua'a</strong></span><span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;">of Hā'ena on Kaua'i, there are wild populations of <strong>olonā</strong></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;"> growing however, no one knows how to manage or prepare the fibers.&nbsp;Due to the mission of Limahuli Garden to perpetuate traditional cultural knowledge as well as to grow and perpetuate native Hawaiian cultural plants, a long-term project to cultivate and teach community members sustainable use of <strong>olonā</strong></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;">&nbsp;will not only strengthen the community, but perpetuate a traditional Hawaiian skill, which is slowing being lost. Within the scope of this experiment, I specifically looked at three populations to determine which growing conditions produced the strongest cordage. I hypothesized that Limahuli Valley has cultivatable <strong>olonā</strong></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;"> and ideal growing condition would produce plants that had stronger fibers. Collecting individuals from three different growing conditions, a modified tensile strength test was designed and two ply cordage of 25 cm long, comprised of 6, 12 and 24 individual fibers refuted my hyposthesis, but lead me to re- hypothesize that stem diameter (age of plant) rather than environmental growing conditions effect the fiber strength. I concluded that Limahuli Valley has a good population of&nbsp;<strong>olonā</strong></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;">, which if managed properly, stronger fibers can be obtained and lead to the establishment of a successful community population.&nbsp;</span></p> <!--EndFragment--> ER -