In collaboration with the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) Cultural Working Group’s (CWG) Nomenclature Hui, the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM), and other members representing various organizations including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we offer the following names for three Gloiocladia species:
Hawaiian Name: Laukuamoʻo
Scientific Name: Gloiocladia laukuamoo
Hawaiian Name: Lauaʻenohokai
Scientific Name: Gloiocladia iyoensis
Hawaiian Name: ʻAmaʻumaʻukai
Members of the Nomenclature Hui were immediately struck by the appearance of these limu (seaweed), and were reminded of certain related images. ʻAmaʻumaʻukai and Lauaʻenohokai, given to species #1 and #2 respectively, bears striking similarities to the ʻamaʻu and the lauaʻe ferns. ʻAmaʻumaʻu is the term for the young leaves of the ʻamaʻu (Sadleria cyatheoides) fern. Like the limu, young ʻamaʻumaʻu leaves are stunningly red. The individual blades of each fern leaf have similar sawtooth-liked characteristics that also resemble the limu. Similarly, the shape of the lauaʻe fern can also be seen in the Gloiocladia iyoensis. The Hawaiian names given to these two species of limu also reflect Hawaiian nomenclatural tradition that draws a relationship between an aquatic and terrestrial species through a single name. As the ʻamaʻumaʻu remains on land, the addition of “kai” (ocean) after the phrase indicates its counterpart in the ocean. Nohokai (ocean dweller) added after lauaʻe has the same effect.
Species #2 was first introduced to the Nomenclature Hui as a potentially new species to be named and described. During the naming period, it was concluded that species #2 is most likely Gloiocladia iyoensis, a type of limu also found in Australia. The Nomenclature Hui still felt it appropriate to honor the limu and its discovery here in Hawaiʻi with a Hawaiian name—Lauaʻenohokai. The fern in Hawaiʻi most commonly known today as lauaʻe (Microsorium scolopendria) is Indigenous to Australia. Since the fern and the limu are found both in Hawaiʻi and Australia, the use of the term lauʻe offers another connection between the terrestrial and aquatic species over space.
Another image provoked by the limu is the kuamoʻo—the kua (back) of the mourning moʻo (gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris); the backbone; the spine. The sawtooth-like shape of the limu can be seen in the varied patterns that appear on the backs of some common moʻo in Hawaiʻi. Similarly, the limu also looks like the backbone or spine—perhaps that of a human—representing a connection between Kānaka (Hawaiians and all human beings) to limu and other plants as the backbone of human life. This connection represents the Hawaiian worldview of kinship and kinship-making to space and species via name. Lau placed before kuamoʻo offers two meanings. Lau, commonly known glossed as leaf or blade of a plant, can also refer to multiplicity. The blades of the Laukuamoʻo look like many backbones connected to each other.
Lastly, each name possesses an element that connects them to each other. Lauaʻenohokai and Laukuamoʻo both begin with the term “lau;” and ʻAmaʻumaʻukai and Lauaʻenohokai both end with the term “kai.”
