Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

n., Wild plumbago (Plumbago zeylanica 🌐), a native of tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere to Hawaiʻi, a shrub with white tubular flowers and thin, oval leaves that were used medicinally; the sap was used to blacken tattoo marks.

• Related:
  • Also: ʻiliheʻe, hilieʻe; lauhihi on Niʻihau.
• References:
  • Neal 667.

Roots of a vine, wild plumbago (Plumbago zeylanica). Its sap was used to blacken scars or tattoo marks in mourning for the dead, kūmākena.

Wild plumbago (Plumbago zeylanica), growing in dry regions near the coast. Its roots contain poison, the bark supplies a stimulant, the leaves are used for medicine, and the sap supplies a black coloring for tattoo marks. (NEAL 667.)