Leptecophylla tameiameiae
is a hardy, adaptive, and morphologically variable plant that occupies a variety of ecosystems, from dry forest up to alpine bogs and shrublands. Despite being common, it is difficult to propagate, taking months to years for seeds to germinate and growing very slowly. The and other birds eat the berries of this shrub and thus distribute it. Native Hawaiians would inhale ground leaves of the to treat congestion, and used the fruit to make lei.
Hawaiian nobility used the smoke of to modify their mana before interacting with people of lower caste. The bodies of executed criminals were cremated on pyres of to drive the mana from their bones and ensure their ghosts were harmless.
Ecology
It grows as a tree up to tall in forests and as a shrub in height elsewhere.