Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. n., The beach or prickly poppy (Argemone glauca), a Hawaiian species closely related to a southern United States species, a gray, prickly plant with stiff, lobed, toothed leaves and fragile, white-petaled flowers. Formerly, Hawaiians used the yellow juice to relieve pain. Literally, thorny flower.

• Related:
  • Also: kala, naule, pōkalakala.
• References:
  • See lū #2, Neal 367.

2. n., A native prickly lobelia (Cyanea solenocalyx), a shrub with large ovate or oblong, prickly leaves and hairy, purple flowers, found in gulches of Molokaʻi.

3. n., The spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare 🌐), a coarse, prickly European weed, 60 to 150 cm high, with large, spiny, lobed leaves, and dark-purple, spiny flower heads about 5 cm (Neal 857.)

Prickly poppy (Argemone glauca). (NEAL 367.) See Plants: Uses.

Prickly poppy (Argemone glauca), a species peculiar to Hawaiʻi, where it grows in dry, rocky soil from sea coast up to 1,000 feet. It is a conspicuous, attractive, wild annual up to 4 feet in height. Seeds that can resist fire are scattered from prickly capsules about an inch long, creating new plants springing up from burned-over ground. Formerly used for toothache, neuralgia, and ulcers, all because of a narcotic in the yellowish juice. (NEAL 367.)