Hala

Pandanus tectorius, a screwpine, is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia and the Pacific Islands, and grows in coastal lowlands near the sea. Its English names include thatch screwpine, Tahitian screwpine, hala tree (hala in Hawaiian) and pandanus, and in Malay it is pandan laut, meaning sea pandan. It is a small spiny tree with a slender, brown-ringed trunk that forks, held up by aerial prop roots. The fruit is edible, and some varieties contain significant calcium oxalate and need thorough cooking, while others can be eaten raw. It is an important food source on the atolls of Micronesia and Polynesia. In Samoan culture the dried fruit, painted red, is worn as a necklace called ula fala by the matai on special occasions. Lauhala, the art of weaving with the leaves, is pivotal to the history of Hawaii, and houses and pillows were made in this way.