One of the most fragrant and exquisite flowers used in leis, pua kenikeni, or "ten cent flower", bears tubular ivory flowers that age to gold in summer and autumn. A slow growing tree native to the south Pacific and tropical eastern Australia, its flowers are also potent enough to impart their fragrance into coconut oil for use as massage and hair oils. This tree attains a spreading to rounded shape.The large, oval, glossy leaves can have gentle ripples across them, giving the plant an interesting coarse texture. Potentially producing flowers anytime in the warm months, it is commonly in best floral display in summer and fall. The ivory flowers are tubular and occur in small, loose clusters on branch tips. Each bloom have five petals that will recurve, and age from ivory to yellow and eventually orange. Moths pollinate them and permit the formation of small orange fruits that are loaded with seeds.
Appreciated for its fragrant flowers, Pua Tree is widely planted as an ornamental shrub in its native region. In Hawaii, the flowers are strung into Leis or soaked in coconut oil to make a fragrant hair or body oil. The wood is valued for making tool handles and other small wooden articles.
