wiliwili

• (The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, by Edward Tregear F.R.G.S., etc., Wellington, New Zealand, 1891 Footnote 420: Verses 8 and 9 are from an old proverb which the Hawaiians put into the following quatrain A pua ka wiliwili A nanahu ka man A pua ka wahine u'i A nanahu ke kanawai Translation When flowers the wiliwili Then bites the shark When flowers a young woman Then bites the law The people came to take this old saw seriously and literally and during the season when the wiliwili (Erythrina monosperma) was clothed in its splendid tufts of brick-red mothers kept their children from swimming into the deep sea by setting before them the terrors of the shark Translation Song Alas! —  Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula
• The head is carved out of some soft wood -- either kukui or wiliwili --- which is covered, as to the hairy scalp, with a dark woven fabric much like broadcloth. —  Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula
• A pua ka wiliwili, —  Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula
• When flowers the wiliwili, —  Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula
• The people came to take this old saw seriously and literally, and during the season when the wiliwili (Erythrina monosperma) was clothed in its splendid tufts of brick-red, mothers kept their children from swimming into the deep sea by setting before them the terrors of the shark.] [Translation] _Song_ —  Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula

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