What Vegetation is on huahine?

Question

Fruits vegtables anything that grows

Answer 1

Through the years, the Tahitian gardenia (Tiare Tahiti) has become one of the main emblems of French Polynesia where it is largely used in design and advertisement (bank, airline…). Its snowy-white color, as well as its subtle fragrance, may be one of the reasons why it is so prized.

Largely reproduced on the materials used to make the very famous "floral shirts", the Hibiscus is also an emblem of the South-Sea islands. Its various colors and sizes -from the little to the big ones, its petals sometimes in double raw or finely chiselled will amaze you and let's bet you will wear it soon !

Heliconias, Red ginger and Red torch ginger, Flamingo flowers… are frequently used by the mama (Tahitian grandmothers) to make their floral compositions. These flowers are also used to make floral arrangements for parties. Coconut palms are attached around not-so-esthetical posts to allow different flowers and greenery branches to be sticked into it.

Paper flower, which flowers seem to be made in tissue paper, can be found in every Polynesian garden. There is an uncountable number of colors from beige to pale pink, from fuchsia to purple and not to forget orange… but be careful of their terrible thorns !

French Polynesia counts many orchid varieties, the most famous member of the family being without contest the Tahitian Vanilla.

Temple flower is actually a little tree with bare branches and bi-colored flowers. You will be seduced by their soft shapes and their different tones -from pastel to intense colors.

The French Polynesian vegetation has two main characteristics : a strong rate of endemic species for a few number of species since only a few of them have been able to settle on such little and isolated islands.

An exceptional endemism in high volcanic islands…

About one thousand plant species exist in Polynesia (against 3,500 in New Caledonia and 5,000 in New Guinea). Most of them can be found in high volcanic islands where conditions of weather, humidity, altitude and sun exposition are favorable to the development of a diverse vegetation, from beaches to mountains. Moreover, 40% of plants are indigenous to French Polynesia.

    * Summit

      Ferns, like tree fern, particularly prize these humid and windy places. They constitute the biggest vegetal group since they account for 31% of the Polynesian flora. They are currently used by the Polynesians to make head crowns or floral arrangement for parties.

    * The valleys, that naturally keep water and humidity, are shelter of the mape which fruit reminds chestnut, the fe'i a wild banana tree which fruits are an ingredient of the ma'a Tahiti (traditional meal), the noni used in traditional medecine and the Polynesian vanilla.

Finally, the coastal plains are filled with temple flowers, tamanu used in woodwork or aito called "iron tree" for its wood is really strong. You will also find in the littoral the very famous coconut tree.

All the islands of French Polynesia are of volcanic origin, what created isolated and sparse islands, far away from any continent. Thus most of the the plants that constitute today a diverse and luxuriant vegetation were imported and acclimated by men in two successive waves.

    * Polynesian immigrants -who may have come from South-east Asia- brought on their canoes the typical fruits of their region that they needeed to survive during their long trip across the Pacific ocean : banana trees, coconut trees, bread fruit tress… Those plants are considered today by many people as indigenous.

    * European colonists then brought many species that they had gathered all around the world and acclimated them with success to the Polynesian climate. That is why we can find today in Polynesian gardens, orchads and moutains either European strawberries, African watermelons, Brazilian guava trees or grapefruits from Borneo…

Four banana species in total grow in our islands, two of which are indigenous to French Polynesia and can only be eaten cooked (fei and meia), and two others introduced by the Europeans that can be eaten cooked or raw (rio and hamoa). Except the fei that grows widly between 400 and 1,000 m, the other varieties are cultivated here and there in the littoral of all high volcanic islands.

Banana trees trunk has always been largely used by Polynesians : embarked on canoes during long trips, it was used as forage for the animals ; notched, it produces an indelible sap ; used as fuel, it provides the Tahitian hoven in vapor essential to avoid carbonization ; and finally its fibers are used for weaving. Its big leaves can be used as tablecloth and as container to cook the aliments in the Tahitian hoven.

As for the fei, it is greatly prized notably cooked in the Tahitian hoven or prepared in poe, a sort of Tahitian pudding served with coconut milk. Unfortunatly, the fei is more and more rare today and is not anymore the food base of the more humble people because of its price.

What is commonly called citrus in French Polynesia is actually a pre-European variety named "lime" : it is the local taporo which small and hardly spherical fruit is used to prepare raw fish. As for the taporo popaa (foreign citrus), quite bigger and elongated in shape, it was introduced by Europeans but it is not very cultivated.

The local taporo is more resistant to insects and deseases than the orange tree, however it was not spared by attacts and for the actual production is lower than the demand, limes are imported from the Marquesas islands or even from Australia. Nevertheless, the local lime is a very important element in traditional medicine since it is used in aproximatly twenty preparations.

The mape finds its origin in Malaysia and might have been brought in French Polynesia by the Polynesian immigrants from South-east Asia. This tree is characterized by foothills that develop from roots to branches for the oldest ones. Boiled or roasted, the mape fruit -that looks like chestnut- is highly prized by Tahitians that eat it at every hour. Childrens are used to selling those cooked fruits in all gatherings, notably around markets.

As caviar was used to feeding chickens, nono (or noni) fruits were given to pigs since an American company decided to use it to make a flavored juice that is said to cure, or at least, to prevent all deseases. The nono, that was once a wild bush growing near the sea, is now highly cultivated in all archipelagoes to provide this new and florishing industry. Thus, some cultivators go so far as to uproot their vanilla feet -once the true "brown gold" of the Pacific islands- to plant nono.

Formerly, Polynesians used the nono fruit to cure the stone fish sting -a poisonous fish living in lagoons muddy bottom- or to cure sore throats. Roots and bark were used to paint tapa, a sort of vegetal cloth.

The uru destiny is quite singular for it was the centre of covetousness in the XVIIIth century. Considered as indigenous, this plant was discovered in the Marquesas islands by the navigator Quiros in 1595. After Cook's travel, the uru fame didn't stop to raise in the British Empire : no sooner, the West Indies planters asked for seedlings in order to produce for slaves a food more nourishing than manioc and cheaper than rice.

Captain Bligh, commanding the very famous Bounty, was charged to collect some seedlings in Tahiti and then to transport them to West Indies. The mutiny -that put an end to the expedition and was made famous by films- was launched, among other hazings, by Bligh's order to reduce the crew water rations in order to sprinkle the young trees. Then, other expeditions were send and some uru were planted in West Indies but they never had a comparable place to the one they have in Polynesia.

Actually there are some 25 varieties of uru : rounds, oval, smooth, rough… and the interest of this tree is not limitated to its fruits since it is also a very used medicinal plant and its bark permits to make tapa, a sort of vegetal cloth.

The painapo, derived from the English word, find its origin in South America and was introduced by the famous captain Bligh that commanded the also famous Bounty.

It is today the more cultivated plant in Tahiti but above all in Moorea where a juice factory has been built in order to transform the local production. The Tahitian variety is very thorny, but its taste is particularly strong and its yellow flesh is really sweet and perfumed.

Papaya

The origin of this plant is still unknown today since it was cultivated for thousand years, but it was disocvered by conquistadors in Central America.The fruit constitutes with banana one of the more eaten fruits in French Polynesia for its production doesn't know any season. It can be eaten raw with citrus juice, or cooked notably in poe, a sort of Tahitian pudding served with coconut milk.

It has also many properties : it can make freckles disappear applying the pressed green fruit, or blood spots on cloth thanks to leafs decoction.

Passion fruit finds its origin in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentine and has amazing hermaphrodit flowers and lianas which stems end in tendrils. Its fruits are filled with an intense yellow matter in which are spared many little black seeds. Among 20 comestible species, 3 species of passion fruit are cultivated in French Polynesia, notably to make a delicious juice. The round intense yellow skin variety is very common but its flesh is often acid, whereas the garnet-red skin variety is much sweeter and has a more agradable taste.

Guava was introduced in Tahiti at the early XIXth century from Brazil. It quickly developed to the detriment of the indigenous vegetation. However -as Polynesian people have understood it- this plant has both many medicinal properties -since they added it to their list of medicinal plants- and undeniable gustatory qualities. Actually, the "sandy plum&quot