Lāʻī or Ti (Ki)
An upright evergreen shrub with colorful, palm-like shiny leaves. This plant is used for many things, including cooking, lei making, hula skirts, and bandages
Medically, it is used as an antiseptic agent for cuts and wounds or consumed to clear sinuses.
Cordyline fruticosa is an evergreen flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. The plant is of great cultural importance to the traditional inhabitants of the Pacific Islands and Island Southeast Asia. It is also cultivated for food, traditional medicine, and as an ornamental for its variously colored leaves. It is identified by a wide variety of common names, including ti plant, palm lily, cabbage palm.
Scientific Name: Cordyline fruticosa
Polynesian Introduction
Description: Shrub (6-10ft.) with large green leaves and few branches.
Distribution: A Polynesian introduction now grown extensively. Naturalized in mesic forests and valleys, often in secondary Hala forests.
Cultural Uses: Leaves: thatch, food wrappers, hula skirts, sandals. The sweet roots were baked and eaten or used to make an alcoholic beverage called ‘okolehao.
Landscape Uses and Care: Can be used as a specimen plant or for hedges. Does fine in full sun or partial shade in wind protected areas. Dark leaves provide a great backdrop for lighter/brighter colored plants.
Additional Info: There are many cultivars and varieties of ki today but only the plant described here is considered the Hawaiian variety.
