Hopena Plant

The hopena plant is native to the Wuhuku Islands. The flowers are shaped like bird beaks and come in many colors. The sap and seeds both have hallucinogenic properties and have been used for centuries by the Wuhukans in medicine and rituals.

Contents

1. Habitat
2. Use in Medicine
3. Use in Shrunken Heads
4. Conservation

Habitat

The Hopena Plant is native tot he Wuhuku Islands. It can only grow in very hot and humid locations.

Use in Medicine

The latex sap of hopena plants is greatly prized for it's medicinal qualities. In Wuhukan, it is called ke koko o nā kūpuna, which translates to blood of the ancestors. The sap is obtained by making an incision on either side of a hopena bulb just before it blooms. Wuhukans use special obsidian daggers for this purpose. The sap is then dried in rock pans, which results in a fine white powder. That powder can then be mixed with various other ingredients to create a number of healing salves.

Use in Shrunken Heads

Wuhukan shrunken heads are created by peeling the skin from the skull and wrapping it around a wooden ball. Hopena seeds are then inserted to shape the nose, brow, cheek bones, and jaw. Once the desired shape has been achieved, the mouth is sewn shut and the head is boiled in water that contains tannin. Finally it is dried in the sun and decorated to honor the deceased. The decoration is a homage to the type of person that the head belonged to - warriors receive face paint, queens are adorned in jewels and feathers, and fishermen are given scales or fins.

The hopena seeds used must also come from the appropriate color plant for the life that the person lived. Red hopena seeds are for warriors, orange are for queens, and blue are for fishermen. If a person exhibited skill in many areas, the shaman creating the shrunken head will sometimes mix many colors.

Conservation

The Wuhuku tribes consider the hopena plants to be a sacred gift from their ancestors. Damaging a hopena plant or even stealing one drop of sap is punishable by head crushing.

Hopena Plant

Flower of the Hopena Plant

Scientific Name

Strelitzia fatum