Post #1584 by Kailuageoff on Sat, May 18, 2002 7:20 AM

Coincidentally, I happened to pick up a paperback on trees of Hawaii for 35 cents at a local thrift, and found a picture of a Hawaiian tree fern as well as a photo of a Hawaiian tree fern carved into a tiki. The book says, "The common hapu'u that the Hawaiin orchids and antheriums are planted in comes from the tree fern. It grows abundantly in the forests of Hawaii, especially on the island of Hawaii. The trees form a lacy roof overhead. The cool green fronds uncurl from the hapu'u base which is covered with a soft golden brown silky material the Hawaiians call "pulu". The pulu has been used for stuffing pillows and matresses. Tiki gods are made from the hapu'u (see left), also slabs are cut from t and used for fences, pathways, and orchid logs."
What is really weird about this for us, is we planted a so-called "Australian" tree fern in our garden last year that looks the same as the plant in the book, but we had no idea there was a tiki connection.