Thespesia populnea

(Thespesios in Greek means wonderfully divine, perhaps because the wood was used for carving religious icons.  Populnea reflects the resemblance of the leaves to a Poplar tree.)

Malvaceae

In sunny coastal spots around South Florida, not to mention around much of the tropical world, thrives the Portia Tree,  Milo to others.   Around here it is a sort of a weed, actually a Category I invasive exotic.  Generally speaking, plants with fruits or seeds transported by ocean currents get around.  

It is not 100% clear where the tree is truly native, evidently around the Indian Ocean, where its uses in medicine are ancient.   There are mysterious archaeological remains of it in a cave on the island of Aitutaki literally in the middle of the Pacific Ocean dating to 1200-1400 AD, long before European sailing ships came over the horizon.   Did it float there from Asia?  Conceivable, but still somebody took it into that cave.    Archaeologists believe pre-Europeans brought the plant and others across the tropical Pacific, including Hawaii.    Quite a feat!   Our tree appears in Hawaiian legends of origins.  Why did they bring it?

The Hibiscus Family has fiber species:  caesarweed, cotton, Indian-hemp, kenaf, and, you guessed it, Portia Tree.  And it gets better still.  Ancient uses also included edible leaves, quick-growing wood,  medicines, and dyes.  There remains modern interest in it as a natural fabric dye. By the way, the flowers are pretty too, and change from yellow to orangish or reddish late in the day.

Those floating fruits and seeds have hollow spaces for buoyancy, and contain oodles of oil.  There’s so much oil Portia Tree is a candidate source for biodiesel, especially given its ability to grow fast and furious in salty soils otherwise not very useful for agriculture.    Compromised salty soils are expanding.

The gorgeous wood deserves a special nod.   Prehistoric and historic people made canoes from it.  Modern (and no doubt ancient) crafters value(d) its gnarly patterns and rusty-reddish heartwood for carving and woodturning, especially bowls.  You can buy them in Honolulu.   I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of finding uses for the limitless Florida invasive exotic woods, you know…Brazilian Pepper, Casuarina, Earleaf Acacia, Melaleuca, and more.   Guilt-free woods galore!