A rose is a rose is a rose, said Gertrude Stein, but as you can see, aloha ~ this isn't a rose.
Meet the awapuhi flower. Love definitely lies hidden in the awapuhi plant. I know because I met the awapuhi on my last visit to Hawai'i. I fell in love with it and didn't want to part ways or say goodbye to it.
When you squeeze it, clear slippery, juice oozes out and it smells fresh and spicey. It's known as the Shampoo Ginger Plant. The red color is beautiful to behold. It is sensual to touch as you hold the stalk.
The letter W in Hawaiian is pronounced like a V. This flower is pronounced: ah-va-pu-ee. Reknowned hair stylist Paul Mitchell made it famous by using it in his shampoo & conditioners. He has a farm of awapuhi plants in Hawai'i and patents on his products. It is sold in salons in Beverly Hills and at your local Beauty Brands store.
The awapuhi plant is in the ginger family. It has made its impact on both indigenous and modern cultures. It's used in many tropical countries medicinally, for cooking and making kapa cloth. The polynesians use it's leaves to line the bottom of an imu, their underground cooking ovens.
I encountered this beautiful plant one October Saturday on the campus of the University of Hawai'i at Manao in Honolulu. I attended a kava festival where faculty, students and the general public were sharing over twenty different kinds of kava from all regions of Polynesia. Sometimes called Kava Kava, it is an evergreen shrub. It is native to the South Pacific islands. Pacific cultures grind the root into a paste, mix it with water, strain it and consume it ceremonially. It is known to relieve stress and promote relaxation.
I learn about this festival while shopping at a farmer's market on the North Shore of Oahu in Haleiwa where Fumi's famous Kahuku Shrimp is sold from a food truck.
Haleiwa is the surfing capital of the world and they also sell kava at their farmer's market. I bought Fijian kava that day. The vendor told me about the kava fest on the Manao campus and I was intrigued enough to make it a point to attend.
The kava festival had flower vendors selling buckets of awapuhi flowers. I'll always remember that beautiful day I first laid eyes on the wild shampoo ginger flower.
