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Introduction
Ceodes umbellifera and other Hawaiian birdcatchers.
Pāpara ~ Parapara, Ceodes brunoniana
Names incorporating reflexes of the Proto-Polynesian word root *pala in Samoan and some East Polynesian languages separate the bird-catcher trees recently placed by botanists in the reinstated genus Ceodes from the larger and more widely distributed Pisonia grandis. The proper botanical classification of these trees has been a matter of contention for many decades; the New Zealand species Ceodes brunoniana (also native to Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands and Hawai'i) is recorded in H.H. Allen's Flora of New Zealand (1961) as Heimerliodendron brunonianum, a name it had received from the Swedish botanist C.J.F. Skottsberg, an authority on Pacific and South American plants, in 1941. The tree had first received the name Pisonia brunoniana from the Austro-Hungarian taxonomist S.L. Endlicher in 1833, and was initially moved to the genus Ceodes by Skottsberg in his revision of this group of plants in 1926 (other changes had been proposed in the mean time). However, although Skottsberg's work remained hightly influential and respected, some botanists questioned his treatment of various species. In the the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii (1999), W. L. Wagner and associates thought that the key characteristics of this Hawaiian (and New Zealand) species fitted well with the specifications for Pisonia sensu stricto (p.985). Other botanists obviously agreed, as from the 1990s until recently the plant was once more called botanically Pisonia brunoniana. In 2020, however, Elison Sandoli Rossetto and Marcos Caraballo-Ortiz, from Brazil and the U.S, respectively, published their paper "Splitting the Pisonia birdcatcher trees", reinstating the genera Ceodes and Rockia on genetic and morphological grounds, but combining Skottsberg's Heimerliodendron with Ceodes. Their new analysis has been accepted in Aotearoa in both the NZPCN and Biota of NZ databases, which now (March 2023) refer to the tree as Ceodes brunoniana. The 2020 classification leaves no room for suspecting that the trees might belong to Pisonia s.s., as the defining characteristic for that genus is specified as: "Anthrocarp ribs covered by glandular emergences" (p.134), which neatly describes the seed-pods of Pisonia grandis (*Puka-tea) and definitely excludes Ceodes brunoniana and C. umbellifera. Meanwhile, the Polynesian names have remained unchanged.
The "para" element in the Polynesian names, as noted above, probably reflects the Proto-Polynesian word root *pala, "ripe, soft; over-ripe, rotten", in the sense of "messy, sticky", in reference to the ultra-sticky substance exuded by the ripe fruit of these plants. In Māori it would also seem to be echoed in the plant name parahia, as in the proverb
Tēnā te ringa tango parahia!
This is translated by William Colenso as "Well-done the hand that roots up weeds!" (Proverbs, p.116); parahia is the name of a spreading, low-growing indigenous herb Dysphania pusilla (Amaranthaceae), once common (and rather a nuisance) in cultivations around Taupo and in a few other localities in the North and South Islands, but now on the verge of extinction. The same sense is detectable in the Aupouri term "whakaparahia", an expression applied to a "clingy" child. There could also be an echo of another Proto-Polynesian *pala, for a cycad or tree fern, ultimately from Proto-Oceanic *bala or *bwala, with a similar meaning.
Ceodes umbellifera and other Hawaiian birdcatchers.
 Ceodes umbellifera received that name from G. and J.R. Forster in 1776. It was later grouped with Pisonia, and in 2020 restored to its original botanical name. It has straight-edged, oval leaves, pointed at the tips; the leaves appear to be arranged in whorls; they are variable in size but can measure over 25 cm long by 12 cm wide on some branches. In Polynesia it grows as a sub-canopy tree generally inland in damp forest, reaching up to about 10 m. high. Elsewhere in its range -- Madagascar, Northern Queensland, and the New Hebrides to Micronesia and Polynesia (except Aotearoa) -- it is sometimes taller. It has panicles of white to greenish flowers followed (on female trees) by narrow, spindle-shaped fruit with five sticky ribs. Apart from occasionally providing glue for bird-catching poles, this tree does not seem to have any particular use, except for contributing to biodiversity, in Polynesia. It is known as fa'apala in Samoa and, along with bird-catcher trees in general, pāpala or pāpala kēpau in Hawai'i; it is called parapara in Rarotonga, but puruhi in Tahiti.
Apart from Ceodes brunoniana, two of the other Hawaiian pāpara or pāpara kēpau are also species formerly included in the genus Pisonia. These are C. wagneriana, a tree growing 7-10 metres high confined to rather remote areas on the island of Kauai, and Rockia sandwicensis, a larger tree growing from 12 to 15 metres tall and widely distributed in dryish forests from 250 to over 1,000 metres above seal level on all the main islands except Maui. There is a fifth member of the Pisoneae found naturally in the State of Hawai'i, Pisonia grandis, known from a single tree found on the remote Lisianski Island, a coral island home only to sea birds about 1,700 km. northwest of Honolulu. There is more information about this tree on the page for Proto-Polynesian *Pukatea.
The kēpau element in the Hawaiian names refers to the sticky gum exuded from the seedpods of these trees. The word refers primarily to the gum present on ripe breadfruit, but it also applies to resin, tar or other sticky substances. On these birdcatcher trees it does indeed catch birds; those that escape provide the primary means for dispersing the seeds which will eventually fall from their feathers. In Hawa'i, the gum from these trees was applied to slender poles from the branches of 'ōlapa trees (Cheirodendron spp., Araliaceae) and used to catch birds for food. Some species of the birdcatcher trees, like Ceodes brunoniana (see next section), however, were quite proficient in catching small birds themselves.
Pāpara ~ Parapara, Ceodes brunoniana
 The distribution of Ceodes brunoniana seems a little strange until one considers the flight path of a little sea bird, the kuaka or godwit (Limosa lapponica). The outer edges of the annual migration route of this amazing little bird from Alaska to Aotearoa would take it near Hawaii on one leg of the journey, and Norfolk or Lord Howe Island on the other. It would have been sufficient for a passing kuaka to drop a feather with a seed or two of this tree stuck to it at or over any three of these places to account for its Hawai'i-Aotearoa-Norfolk Island-Lord Howe Island distribution. It is not found natively anywhere else.
The plant is a large shrub or small tree growing to about 6 metres high. Its large, glossy, dark-green leaves reach up to 40 cm long by 15 cm wide and are tapered at the both ends. The leaves are protected against ultra-violet light and salt by wax in their surface cells. The parapara has fragrant perfect (bisexual) flowers, borne in many-flowered panicles. These produce very sticky, elongated 5-ribbed fruit, anout 3 cm long, tapering and then slightly expanding and rounded at the tip. The initially green fruit turn black and become super-sticky when ripe. In Hawai'i the tree grows in dryish areas between 400 and 1500 metres above sea level on all the main islands except Kauai. In Aotearoa it grows from sea level to about 150 m. in the northern North Island, from Northland to East Cape. J.T. Salmon (Native Trees of New Zealand) notes that seeds actually germinate in the remains of small birds caught by the gum, later falling to the ground to take root. As Tony Foster (Plant Heritge New Zealand, p. 151) observes, the captured birds themselves provide organic nutrients to the plant when they fall off and decompose. Larger birds will escape with seeds stuck to their feathers which will eventually fall off and germinate in new locations.
There is a dramatic photograph of a tauhou (silvereye) enmeshed in parapara gum on the NZPCN page for this species.
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