Cladium jamaicense

Description:

Uki or Jamaica sawgrassCyperaceaeIndigenous to the Hawaiian IslandsOahu (Cultivated)Flowering.Captain Cook's artist John Webber sketched Hawaiian canoe paddlers wearing gourd masks. These masks were decorated with strips of kapa (tapa) that hung down and some are quite certain that the crest resembling feathers was uki (Cladium spp.). This may have been Cladium jamaicense or an another indigenous species now referred to as Machaerina angustifolia [syn. Cladium angustifolia].nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Cladium_jamaicense