Kamaaina (Ardisia elliptica)

I was pretty sure, starting this one, that I wanted a Hawaiian "people" term for the article title. For one thing, Ardisia elliptica is an invasive species in Hawaii, which is the main thing I know about the plant, and for another, my husband lived there for a while, off and on, so I have a handy reference source for these kinds of words, so why not. So I ask him what would be the word for someone who visits Hawaii as a tourist and then decides not to go back to the mainland, and he says kamaaina. Okay, I say, and then go to the internet to look for an official-type definition, so I can start the article with it like I did for Schlub, and I get definitions that tell me that kamaaina (sometimes kamahina) can only be used for people who were born there, or at the very least people who have lived there for a really long time. Which doesn't work at all, because the whole point of calling this an invasive species is to underline the fact that it hasn't been there for a long time, and wasn't native.

So back to the drawing board. Further searching of the net turns up the words haole and malihini, which are also both wrong. Haole has the right kind of meaning (foreigner), and even sort of has the connotation of invasiveness, but is actually used to mean mainly white people, and is generally racist and hostile, and apparently almost sounds wrong if it's not preceded by the word "fucking." (Sort of the rough equivalent of gringo, but significantly less kind.) I found some people claiming that it isn't intrinsically nasty, that it's all in the context, but people say the same thing about n*****, and I wouldn't use that for a title either, sooooooo I had to move on to something else even though haole was more or less the word I wanted.

So there's malihini, which mainly signifies visitors, tourists, people who are staying short-term and then going away. Which makes it the wrongest word imaginable, because this plant is almost certainly in Hawaii to stay, which is why I'd committed myself to using a Hawaiian word in the first place. A tourist plant would stay for a while and leave, not take over acres of countryside and settle down. So apparently kamaaina is as close as it gets, wrong though it is, and now I've burned a whole afternoon just writing the title. Awesome.

Now that that's out of the way.


It's a cute plant, right? One of the better pictures I've gotten, too, of any of the plants. I found it recently at a local supermarket (Hy-Vee, for those of you who have Hy-Vees), and didn't know what it was, and neither did the Hy-Vee floral department, so I concluded that I had to have it, much like with the Asplundia 'Jungle Drum' at Lowes. Plus it was only $3, so not a huge financial risk.

It turns out to be a close relative of the much more common (around here) coral berry, Ardisia crenata, though it's a prettier plant, I think. It's not seen a lot as a houseplant; as far as I know we've never had it where I work.

The common name is shoebutton tree, or (disturbingly) "duck eyes," both of which refer to the berries, which are red, turning to black/purple as they mature. Berries are edible but kind of insipid, and are mostly eaten by birds (in Hawaii) or a combination of birds and raccoons (in Florida).


The problem arises because animals distribute the plants in their droppings, and Ardisia elliptica is shade-tolerant, so it can sprout pretty much wherever the seeds land and then grow up to three feet per year. Flowers are self-fertile, so you only need one plant to get started. Seeds are produced year-round once the plant reaches maturity, in 2-4 years. Then seedlings from those sprout, the native vegetation gets starved for light and dies, the seedlings mature and flower, and then soon you have large expanses of island that are nothing but Ardisia, or Ardisia with a thin cover of taller native trees.

Ardisia elliptica is even more problematic in parts of Florida, because it thrives in marshy, wetland-type conditions. Hawaii is spared total Ardisification¹ by virtue of having drier highland areas and plenty of competition from other invasives (Ardisia elliptica isn't the worst one by a long shot); Florida is also competitive, but there's so much contiguous wetland area there that there's room for a much bigger expanse, and Florida also seems to have been more enthusiastic about planting it as an ornamental, before its invasive nature was demonstrated.

It's native to southeast Asia, by the way: India southeast to New Guinea and then up maybe as far as China; nobody seems to have a real clear handle on where it came from, but the consensus seems to be that it's that general area somewhere.

Of course, the aspects of the plant that make it so much trouble outdoors make it a good houseplant, as is often the case. It handles low light well, though it grows better in bright light, including sun. It's tolerant of wet soil, so overwatering isn't as likely to kill it as some plants. Mine seems to deal okay with drying out, too – it wilts, but doesn't throw leaves. (On the other hand, I've seen some at Hy-Vee since then that were badly wilted and had dead leaves and stems, so its tolerance for drought has limits.) It grows really quickly – I bought mine in a three-inch pot in July, and by early November I had repotted it twice, first into a four-inch, then into a six-inch. The height of the plant hasn't seemed to increase as quickly, proportionally speaking, but the roots are insane.

Temperature does seem to be a bit of a concern, cold more than hot. I'm still waiting to see about humidity.

If you should have one set flowers and fruit, the fresh seeds are said to have a germination rate of 75% (Smithsonian Marine Station link, above) to 90% (my handy grower's reference guide, thank you Lynn P. Griffith, Jr.) if kept warm and moist for one to three months. Which is also good news if you want to grow your own seedlings, though be advised that you have to act quickly, because seeds don't store well.

I like my Ardisia elliptica. I do. It's cute, and so far I haven't had any problems with it. But keep yours indoors. In Florida, at least, it may be illegal not to: it's on their Category I list for invasives.² In fairness, so are other ornamental plants, including some very familiar houseplants: Asparagus sprengeri (asparagus fern), Schefflera actinophylla (umbrella tree), Syngonium podophyllum (arrowhead plant), and Tradescantia spathacea (Moses in the cradle) among them. So don't be afraid of your elliptica, if you get one, but do be aware of the threat posed by invasive exotics: many perfectly nice, innocent creatures (including potential houseplants!) depend on you behaving responsibly.

EDITED 5/13/08: Dropped difficulty level from 3.1 to 1.7; humidity is less of an issue than I thought, and propagation is a lot easier as well.

-

Photo credits:
potted plant: me.
plant with berries: U.S. Geological Survey.

¹(Oh yeah? Well what would you call it, then?)
²Defined as: "Invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives." This is the categorization for plants that have actually caused documented ecological damage already.