(Community Service Classrooms)

Endemic Melicope anisata (H. Mann) T. Hartley & B. Stone, commonly called mokihana is a member of the citrus family, Rutaceae. It is a shrub about 2-8 meters tall with thin, leather-like, elliptic, opposite leaves that are strongly pungent with anise odor and the scent is retained sometimes for years, in the dry wood as well as in the capsules. The flowers are small, growing on a short stalk in clusters, with petals that are thin and transparent. The fruit is a leathery, cube-shaped capsule with shiny, black seeds.

The capsules were threaded and worn by Hawaiian women and men alike as leis or wreaths. It was one of the Hawaiians favorite perfumes; twigs as well as capsules were placed between the folds of their tapa cloth. Mokihana fruits are symbolic of the island of Kauai. Fresh fruits sometimes burn the skin.