Apii

Kii: Ku'ialuaopuna -Apii

La'i or lauki is a sacred plant for Hawaiians. It is used for cooking, Lei, food, game implements, exorcising spirits, blessing of homes, body and spirit. The Lau is made into cordage, foot wear and medicines. This plant is the body form of Kane and used in all blessings from Hawaii to Tahiti. The leaves are also used as thatching material for the old style hale or house. The unfurled center leaf is the mu'o, the stem that connects to the trunk is termed ku'au. Its one of our most used plants in our culture. The old planting method was to stick the thick woody stems in wet soil or a water filled container. The white roots will sprout from the stem in all directions. This will take about 3 weeks. The kuau are cut into 6 inch pieces. If the woody stem is very thick in diameter, that stem would be split length wise from top to bottom and planted laying down on its side. We do not stick the stems in the ground where the ti plant is standing upright. That is not the proper way to plant. By laying the stem down and covering it with dirt, the plant will grow faster and will send up only 1 shoot which will grow up with huge lau. Planting the ti plant standing up, you will have more lau emerging from that 1 stem and smaller lau. There are two types of Lai. The Lai kahuna or Apii has smaller lau and the edges of the lau are undulating and wavy. The second type is the one commonly seen in yards of families. The Apii variety is used ceremonially, where the other is used for all types of cooking, wrapping, and craftwork.