Proto Nuclear Polynesian: *Manono
REFLEXES IN SOME POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES:
Tongan: Manonu (Tarenna sambucina - Rubiaceae)
Niuean: Manono (T. sambucina)
Samoan: Mānunu, Ma'anunu (T. sambucina)
Tahitian: Manono (T. sambucina - Rubiaceae; Glochidion ramiflorum & Phyllanthus manono - Phyllanthaceae)
Marquesan: Manono (Phyllanthus amarus - Phyllanthaceae)
Hawaiian: Manono (Hedyotis terminalis, H. fosbergii & H, hillebrandii - Rubiaceae)
Tuamotuan: Manono (Tarenna sambucina - Rubiaceae)
Mäori: Manono, Kanono (Coprosma grandifolia - Rubiaceae)

Note: This is one of the pages written in the prototype stage of this web site, which has been transferred to the newer format with two more photographs and some additional text.

This name seems to have originally denoted a small but tough and medicinally valuable tree, Tarenna sambucina, native to many parts of Polynesia, where it grows mostly in lowland forests. It is not found in Hawai'i or Aotearoa, but the name has travelled to both those regions. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, it is one of the trees that will grow on impoverished land, like the "Niuean Desert" (fernlands resulting from overcropping and soil impoverishment).

In Tahiti, as the photograph from the naturalist Jean-Yves Meyer's blog (left) shows, this tree can also thrive in somewhat extreme environments -- in this case on a narrow ridge on the edge of a rocky cliff on the island of Mo'ore'a populated by shrubby resilient vegetation such as the widespread Pandanus tectorius, and a range of other shrubs and small trees in addition to the manono: he names Allophylus rhomboidalis (Sapindaceae), Alyxia stellata (Apocynaceae), Celtis pacifica (Ulmaceae), Maytenus vitiensis (Celastraceae), Tarenna sambucina (Rubiaceae) and Xylosma suaveolens (Flacourtiaceae) in this particular environment.

In Samoa, scrapings of the bark of Tarenna sambucina are dried in the sun and then mixed with water to provide a remedy for headaches and body aches. The wood is also occasionally used in tool handles and for the ribs of traditional houses. The hard seeds were apparently once used in children's blow guns for killing pigeons. In Tonga, it is also a traditional remedy for morning sickness. Its New Zealand counterpart, Coprosma grandifolia, also a member of the Rubiaceae, shares the medicinal properties, and has a somewhat similar overall appearance to its Tongan and Samoan namesake.

The Hawaiian manono are members of the genus Hedyotis. The most widely distributed, H. terminalis, thrives best in damp areas within the forest (like its New Zealand counterpart), and is noted for the great variability of its form in different places and situations, where it may be a shrub, liana or small tree (like the one illustrated below) up to 5 metres tall.

In Tahiti and the Marquesas two species of Phyllanthus (Phyllanthaceae, formerly grouped with the Euphorbiaceae) also share the name manono. Their leaves and fruit are vaguely reminiscent of the Tarenna, and they also have analogous medicinal properties. The plants are native to the Americas from Southern Mexico to Northern Argentina, but have become pan-tropical in their distribution. The leaves of Glochidium ramiflorum (also called manono in Tahiti, native to Vanuatu and Niue, and from the same botanical family as the Phyllanthi) are rich in nutrients and used as a mulch in Micronesia and elsewhere.