Pioi. Plate 4 from the book: Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands

Plate 4 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 Pioi.

Smilax sandwicensis, Kth.

The Pioi is an upland-vine, plentiful in the forest, a thousand feet and upwards above the sea. It grows strongly, often climbing to a height of thirty or forty feet; throwing out tendrils which clasp anything they touch; and so the plant, spreading from tree to tree, forms very graceful festoons. It blossoms during February and March. The leaves are light glossy green, and the clusters of pale yellow-green flowers have a faint delicate odour. The flowers are followed by bunches of light yellow berries, rather tasteless, but quite agreeable, which are eaten by the natives.

In an ancient myth it is related that the queen and people of a certain island called Ulukaa, used no other food but the pioi - supposing that taro, potatoes, bananas, etc., were poisonous. Through many strange adventures, as related in the myth, a Hawaiian prince came to Ulukaa, and being hungry, gladly ate of his accustomed food, taro, etc., and so taught the queen and her people to use nature's more bountiful gifts.