ʻAwapuhi

Squeeze the red cone of ʻawapuhi and clear, fragrant liquid runs out. Hawaiians used it as shampoo and conditioner, and it still works — slippery, sweet-smelling, and completely free.

The cone is not the flower. It is a cluster of bracts holding water, with small pale yellow blossoms emerging a few at a time from between the scales.

Brought to the islands by early Polynesian voyagers, ʻawapuhi now grows wild in wet valleys. Rainforest plants like this one were the original medicine cabinet, and the original apothecary.