Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. n., Butterfly weed or milkweed (Asclepias curassavica 🌐), a tropical American perennial herb 60 to 90 cm high, with umbels of small orange and yellow flowers and pods full of tufted, wind-borne seeds; the leaves were eaten in time of famine; the Monarch butterfly feeds on the leaves. Literally, flying leaf.

• Related:
  • Also: lauhele, pua ʻanuhe.
• References:
  • Neal 697.
  • See also hī laulele.

2. n., Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale 🌐).

• References:
  • See also hualele.
  • Neal 860.

3. n., Net fishing with small nets as in shallow water (usually used with lawaiʻa or papa)

s. Lau and lele. The leaf of a species of turnip.

2. Also the name of the plant.

3. A species of sea-weed into which fish get entangled.

s. Name of a plant self propagated, but eaten for food in time of searcity; he ilailau, he ananu, he pilapilau.

[Lau, leaf, and lele, to spring.]

1. The plant or leaf of a kind of turnip used for food.

2. The dandelion.

3. A net used for fishing in shallow waters and operated with feet and hands.

4. A plant self propagated, but eaten for food in time of scarcity; he ilailau, he ananu, he pilapilau. See ananu.

Butterfly weed, milkweed, blood flower (Asclepius curassavica), a tropical American perennial herb. It has erect, podlike fruits containing numerous round, flat seeds each bearing a tuft of long, silky hairs. This floss is used for stuffing pillows; fiber from the stem can be spun. Leaves are eaten in time of famine. The plant is a host of the Monarch butterfly. (NEAL 697.)