Proto Polynesian: *Mako Trees mostly with leaves or qualities reminiscent of Melochia aristata or Trichospermum spp.
REFLEXES IN SOME POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES:
Tongan: Mako (Melochia aristata, Steruliaceae [Malvaceae]).
Samoan: Ma'o (Melochia aristata & Commersonia bartramia, Steruliaceae [Malvaceae], & Trichospermum richii, Tiliaceae [Malvaceae]).
Tahitian: Ma'o (Melochia aristata & Commersonia bartramia Steruliaceae [Malvaceae])
Hawaiian: Ma'o (Abutilon sandwicense, A. incanum & Gossypium hirsutum, Malvaceae); Ma'o Hau Hele (Hibiscus brackenridgei, Malvaceae)
Maori: Mako, Makomako (Aristotelia serrata, "Makomako, Wineberry", Elaeocarpaceae)
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The tree species which have been accorded this name share some or all of a number of qualities: they are generally "succession trees" found where the forest or the landscape has been disturbed, they prefer habitats near the coast, they have a bark which is easily peeled or stripped and can be used as fibre or for dye, their leaves are generally heart-shaped with serrated or dentate margins, and the wood burns fairly easily. They are thus generally reminiscent of each other, which has probably earned them their designation. In this, the ancient Polynesians were ahead of the botanists, although they used different criteria to reach a similar conclusion.
Until recently, the different genera in which the tropical species refered to by reflexes of Proto-Polynesian *mako belong were grouped in three separate plant families. Trichospermum was placed in the Tiliaceae (the "linden family"), Melochia and Commersonia were placed in the Steruliaceae (the "avocado family"), and the Hawaiian species in the Malvaceae (the "mallow family"). These families have now been reclassified by some prominent botanists as sub-groups within a single family, the Malvaceae (a schematic outline of the reclassification, which is also accepted by New Zealand botanists, can be found through the "Malvales" link on the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website of the Missouri Botanical Garden). The New Zealand Makomako in general appearance is similar to some of its tropical namesakes. In botanical terms, it belongs to a different family from the rest (Elaeocarpaceae), but even this species has sometimes incorporated by botanists in the family Tiliaceae, which has now in turn been incorporated in the Malvaceae by the revisionists.
The Trichospermums are trees growing 10-20 m in height, with richly scented flowers and easily peeled bark. In Melanesia especially they are used for a variety of purposes, from tying or carrying bundles with strips of bark, as material for packing cases, to temporary roofing. The light, brittle wood burns readily and is excellent material for fireplows. However Art Whistler (Rainforest Trees of Samoa, p. 173) notes that although Trichospermum richii grows in disturbed forest throughout Samoa, most people there are unaware of its existence; those who do know it generally refer to it as ma'o ui ("dark ma'o"). Its slightly toothed leaf margins are more oval than heart-shaped.
Melochia aristata (ma'o in Samoa) is one of the trees characteristic of successional vegetation when the forest is disturbed, either naturally or when land is abandoned after being cleared. This tree may have medicinal properties. Art Whistler (Trees in Samoan Culture, p.127) notes that it has been studied in relation to cancer research. The tree is indigenous to Samoa and the Horne Islands (Tonga), Tahiti and the Tuamotus. The wood is used for house posts. The tree grows up to 10 metres high, but generally is much less than that. Its small flowers are yellow at the base and pink at the tips, borne in panicles. The fruit is a hairy capsule about a centimetre long, with one or two seeds in each of its five cells.
Like Melochia aristata, Commersonia bertramia is botanically one of the subgroup of trees which includes the cacao (Theobroma cacao). It ranges from Southeast Asia to Polynesia. It is another successional tree but less common than Melochia aristata. It is a small tree, growing up to 8 metres or so in Samoa, but apparently up to about 20 m in Fiji. Its spreading, many-flowered inflorescence is reminiscent of other mako; its leaves are ovate to lanceolate, 10-23 cm long. It has a fibrous bark but doesn't appear to be used for anything in Samoa.
The Hawaiian ma'o are botanically all members of the original Malvaceae, now the Malvoideae subfamily of the Malvaceae sensu lato.
Gossypium tomentosum, Hawaiian cotton, is closely related to the cotton species used commercially (G. Barbadense and G. hirsutum), but endemic to Hawai'i. The commercial species were planted there in the 19th Century and have become naturalized -- there was a small cotton industry from about 1838. but it ceased production about a century later. Bruce Bohm (Hawai'i's Native Plants, p. 51) notes that according to DNA analysis the tetraploid line of cotton to which the Hawaiian species belongs originated between 1 to 2 million years ago, and the seeds (which can float and remain viable for up to three years in sea water) probably reached Hawaii by floatation from the Americas, hence their presence in coastal vegetation.
Hibiscus brackenridgii is a variable plant, sometimes a shrub not much more than a metre tall, but it can also grow into a tree 5-10 metres high. It grows throughout Hawai'i in dry forest and shrubland, but is nowhere common. The flowers are borne singly or in small bunches, in contrast to some other species of ma'o. Its yellow flowers usually have a maroon spot at the base of the petals, and dry to a purplish or greenish shade. This plant is known as ma'o hau hele -- the hau hele is the beach hibiscus, Hibiscus tilliaceus, namesake of the Māori houhere.
All three endemic species of Abutilon in Hawai'i are endangered, while the introduced H. grandifolium, a "widespread tropical weed of New World origin", grows freely on marginal land and along roadsides throughout the islands. Abutilon incanum, is "doubtfully indigenous" to Hawai'i, although it is generally known as ma'o -- it is found also in deserts in Arizona and Northwest Mexico. It has heart-shaped leaves with serrated margins, and white to yellowish or pink flowers, with maroon veins and a basal spot. It is found throughout Hawai'i except the Big Island, usually in dry leeward habitats. Abutilon sandwicense, however, is definitely a Hawai'ian native. It is confined to the Wai'anae forest on the island of Oahu -- part of its habitat has long been used for testing explosives by the U.S. military. There is a photograph in the gallery below of Abutilon incanum growing on another military test site, Kaho'olawe Island, Hawai'i. After Pearl Harbour (1941) until 1990 Kaho'olawe became a bombing range. Since then the unexploded ordinance and other debris has been cleared, and the island has become a sanctuary for native wildlife and vegetation.
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