Ieie. Plate 3 from the book: Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands

Plate 3 of 44 from Isabella Sinclair's Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands (1885). The coloured illustration is accompanied by the following text describing the plant:

The Ieie.

Freycinetia arborea, Gaud.

The ieie has a luxuriance of foliage, and for several months of the year, a brilliancy of colour, that is excelled by few Hawaiian plants. It is a strong climber; its growth seeming to be only limited by the height of the tree upon which it may chance to grow. The main stem, which is about eight inches in circumference, clings to its support by means of aerial roots, and throws out branches every two or three feet. These branches are crowned with graceful plume-like bunches of lance-shaped leaves, from one to two inches broad, and about three feet long. In the centre of each bunch is produced a large, gaudy scarlet inflorescence six or seven inches in diameter, which continues to expand, as the centre, or fruit, increases in size, until it fades, and the fruit - oblong in shapes, and from eight to ten inches long - is left to mature. Altogether the ieie is a striking and tropical looking plant; never failing to attract the admiration of all who see it for the first time. It grows on the lowlands in wooded districts, but is found in greatest abundance at an elevation of from one to two thousand feet above the sea. The thick soft bracts of the inflorescence are not unpleasant to the taste, which the rats, - with their usual sagacity - have discovered, and in some localities it is difficult to find a perfect one.

A species of the ieie is found in New Zealand. There the inflorescence is considered, by the natives quite a delicacy. Its Maori name is Kiekie - one of many proofs, of the close connection of the Maori and Hawaiian races.