HAWAII NATURE NOTES
THE PUBLICATION OF THE
NATURALIST DIVISION, HAWAII NATIONAL PARK
AND THE HAWAII NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

(62-63) MOA OR PIPI

The Psilotum is a primitive plant, of which two species are found in the Hawaiian Islands. One is the MOA, which usually grows on the ground and has stems which fork many times near the ends. The second, the PIPI, often grows upon the trunks of trees and ferns. This species normally grows perpendicular to the trunk, then curves abruptly earthward like the tail of a horse. Degener (2, p. 18) states that the MOA was used by the Hawaiians in making a medicine for treatment of a fungus disease, as an emetic, and that the spores were used as a powder to relieve chafing from the malo, or loincloth.

MOA. D, (62).

PIPI. D, (63).