Naio, Hawaiʻi’s false sandalwood.
A tree that grows wild in these islands and nowhere else, whose wood was once shipped to China in place of sandalwood.
The false sandalwood
When the sandalwood trade of the 1800s had used up the islands’ ʻiliahi, naio was shipped to China in its place. Its wood smells something like sandalwood while it dries, but the scent soon fades, and the buyers turned it down. The name stuck: false sandalwood.
In old Hawaiʻi
Hawaiians built with it. The larger branches and trunks became posts, rafters and frames for houses, and the wood made netting needles too. It burns well and fragrantly, so it also lit fishing torches. The wood, and a dead naio tree, have a name of their own: ʻaʻaka.
What it looks like
The sapwood is pale and the heartwood a dark yellowish brown, figured by darker zones in the growth rings. It is hard, fine-textured and moderately heavy. The bark is dark gray, very thick and rough, and on Kaleb’s natural-edge bowl it is the rim.
Where it grows
Naio grows wild on every main island but Kahoʻolawe, and nowhere else, from the shore to the treeline at 10,000 feet. On Hawaiʻi Island and Maui it can be a large tree; on Oʻahu it mostly grows as a shrub, so a trunk big enough to turn is uncommon here.
Questions about naio.
Not answered here? Call or text Kaleb on (808) 729-1560, or write to him.
Is naio sandalwood?
No. It is a different tree, called false sandalwood because its wood smells something like sandalwood as it dries. After the sandalwood ran out in the 1800s it was shipped to China in its place, and the buyers turned it down.
Is naio native to Hawaiʻi?
Yes. It is endemic: it grows wild in these islands and nowhere else in the world.
Why is naio wood hard to come by?
On Oʻahu naio mostly grows as a shrub, and it has become uncommon in many places it once grew, so a trunk big enough for a bowl doesn’t come along often.
Sources: Little & Skolmen, Common Forest Trees of Hawaii (USDA); Native Plants Hawaiʻi (University of Hawaiʻi); Pukui & Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary.
Turn a naio bowl yourself.
When it’s on the rack, you can choose it for your bowl on a class day, with Kaleb beside you for every cut.