Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. n., The flower of the ʻōhiʻa tree (Metrosideros macropus 🌐, Metrosideros collina 🌐 subsp. Metrosideros polymorpha 🌐); also the tree itself. The lehua is the flower of the island of Hawaiʻi, as designated in 1923 by the Territorial legislature; it is famous in song and tale. Figuratively, a warrior, beloved friend or relative, sweetheart, expert (see lehua #9). The plant has many forms, from tall trees to low shrubs, leaves round to narrow and blunt or pointed and smooth or woolly. The flowers are red, rarely salmon, pink, yellow, or white. The wood is hard, good for flooring and furniture, formerly used for images, spears, mallets. It grows abundantly in wet areas (see ex., ʻūpolu). It was believed that picking lehua blossoms would cause rain.

• Related:
  • For rain and wind names associated with lehua see Kanilehua, Kinailehua. Kinimakalehua, Kiu Wai Lehua, Līlīlehua, Mounianilehua, Moelehua.
• References:
  • See nāpolupolu, pōkiʻi #1, ʻūpolu.
  • Neal 637-8.
  • See also lū lehua, Moaʻe Lehua, ʻōiwi #2 (chant).
  • Cf. Marquesan heʻua (Lavondès, 1975, pp. 193–4.)

2. vs., Laden, as a lehua tree with beautiful blossoms.

• Examples:
  • Ke hele lā ka papa ʻaina a ua aliʻi nei ā lehua, the feast table of this aforementioned chief was beautifully supplied.

3. n., Rainbow-colored mother-of-pearl shell used for fishing lure.

4. n., A variety of taro, used for red poi.

• Related:
  • Cultivars may be qualified by the terms keʻokeʻo (white) or maoli (native).
• References:
  • TC 4.

5. n., Globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa 🌐).

• Also: lehua mau loa, lehua pepa, leihua.

6. n., A variety of yam; the stem has red wings and the tuber has light pinkish flesh.

• References:
  • HP 168.

7. (Cap.) n., Name of the small island just west of Niʻihau. As the westernmost of the Hawaiian Islands (except for the Northwest Hawaiian Islands), Lehua is associated with a setting sun (see chant, kalakalaʻihi). In poetry, the extent of the Hawaiian Islands is shown by coupling Lehua Island and Haʻehaʻe and Kumukahi on East Hawaiʻi (see welo #2, welona). A breeze is named for this island.

8. Pas/imp. of lehu #1.

9. n., Expert, as in fishing.

• Related:
  • hoʻolehua Caus/sim.; Swift, expert, strong.

s. The name of a large rock or small island on the north-east of Niʻihau, which has a good spring of water and a fine cavern.

2. The name of a species of ohia, otherwise called the ohia hamau; metrosideros.

3. The blossom of the ohia and the lehua and the ahihi.

4. Flowers done up in bundles, as among foreign families; he pua lei mai kahiki mai.

5. Name of a species of kalo; also called lehualcuikawao.

6. The name of the first man slain in sacrifice on a particular occasion.

7. Lehua is used often figuratively for a person highly esteemed; as, kuu lehua ala o Koolau, my sweet-scented lehua (very dear friend) of Koolau.

1. n., Tree 10 to 35 feet high, usually called ohia lehua; a species of ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha), also called ohia hamau.

2. n., A well-defined variety of the taro plant, pink in color.

3. n., A small, rocky island on the northeast of the island of Niʻihau, which has a good spring of water and a fine cavern.

4. n., The first man slain in sacrifice on a particular occasion.

5. n., Often used figuratively in a personal way, equivalent to very dear friend: kuu lehua ala o Koolau, my sweet lehua of Koolau.

Variety of lehua tree (Metrosideros collina) popular in Hawaiʻi. A mixture of slimy sap of a hau branch, several lehua blossoms, and water, were strained through coconut fibers, placed in a coconut shell, and then given to a woman in childbirth to ease labor pains. (BHK; NEAL 637.)

Island of about 300 acres just west of Niʻihau. The name is also well known as a flower, a breeze, a hardwood, and terms for shellfish, and kalo. The island is also a bird refuge.

A favorite tree (Metrosideros collina) that thrives between 1,000 and 9,000 feet in some forests. On the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the trees reach 100 feet, and around Kīlauea Volcano they are associated with the tree fern. Its flowers are full of honey, which is the food of the ʻiʻiwi, a small bird matching in scarlet plumage the color of the flowers. Stories and legends are based on the flower. Also called ʻōhia. (NEAL 561.)

Lehua (Metrosideros collina), a favorite native tree growing between the 1,000 and 9,000 foot levels. The flowers are full of honey, food of the ʻiʻiwi, a bird matching in scarlet plumage the color of the blossoms. On the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa the tree grows to 100 feet. Leis, quilt designs, stories, and legends are all based on the lehua. (NEAL 637.)

Lehua (Metrosideros collina), a favorite native tree growing between the 1,000 and 9,000 foot levels. The flowers are full of honey, food of the ʻiʻiwi, a bird matching in scarlet plumage the color of the blossoms. On the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa the tree grows to 100 feet. Leis, quilt designs, stories, and legends are all based on the lehua. (NEAL 637.)

A word frequently used figuratively for a person highly esteemed. Kuʻu lehua ʻala a Koʻolau, my sweet-scented lehua, (very dear friend) of Koʻolau.

Ku ma ka lehua, ceremonial hanging of offering, as of banana, pig or man; to impart mana, divine power, to an ʻōhi a lehua tree, especially one to be used in making an idol or image for the temple. (PE.)