Uhi
The uhi plant is the edible yam. It was introduced by the
Polynesians. It came from South East Asia. The uhi is usually
eaten as a carbohydrate. They are usually cooked or prepared
in an imu. The uhi is not related to the sweet potato, which
is often mistakenly called the yam.
Two other tuber-bearing vines, hoi and pi‘a, are
sometimes called yams but, like the sweet potato should
not be confused with the uhi. Uhi are planted
from pieces of the tuber, or bear sprouts. They grow underground stems which
are thick. They grow best in moist gulches and lower areas in the rain forest.
The vines have to be supported, usually by trees. The vines grow during the
summer and December. For edible plants to grow the soil
must be warm, moist, and loose.
The tubers come in various colors, from white to red. Red
uhi was used as a medicine for coughs, constipation, dysentery,
appendicitis and for counteracting vomiting
blood. The tubers can be lobed or elongated in shape depending on variety.
Bellow is a Hawaiian saying relating to Uhi.
He `ai make ka uhi. The yam is the food of death. The
yam grows downward in the ground, instead of upward
like the taro. When a person digs for yams he has to
be on the watch while digging with head down low an enemy can strike hem
on the
back of the neck and kill him.
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Bibliography:
Canoe
Plants of Old Hawai‘i.Lynton Dowe White, web manager.
1994. Ho‘okela Hawai‘i. 6 Jan. 2007<http://www.canoe
plants.com>
Life
in Early Hawai‘i The Ahupua‘a. Kamehameha Schools
Press: Honolulu, 1994. Pukui,
Mary kawena. ‘Ōlelo No‘eau Hawaiian
proverbs and Poetical sayings. Honolulu: Bishop Museum
Press, 1983
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