Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

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I would say earlier, maybe ‘40s.
Okay.
When the kikuyu came in, it took over a lot of the other grasses. And then your weather
conditions changed, and that’s why a lot of your better grasses, I don’t think, survived.
Lack of moisture and whatnot and being choked out by kikuyu. But kikuyu was brought in
mainly to Parker Ranch because they had an obnoxious weed here that they called imex.
Imex
That was taking over a lot the pasture, and the thought was the kikuyu would come in
and choke out the Imex. Which to a certain extent it did, but there also was a bug that
was brought in to attack the Imex and that bug worked well, and I don’t think they have
any Imex. You do have kikuyu, all over the ranch.
It grows in these thick mats, it gets underneath, can be real dry and stuff, but on top fairly
green
Yes, this is all kikuyu right on the lawn here. I don’t think that you can condemn kikuyu as
a lot of people do, it does have it’s place. You get a rain and that kikuyu overnight comes
up and it’s pretty good feed for cattle.
How about this grass now, and I just lost the name.
Pampas
The pampas and [thinking]
Fountain grass.
Thank you, yes. Did you folks have that [fountain grass] in your early days
When I came here in ‘36, after being a cowboy for a while, they put me in charge of
Ke‘ämoku. We would have to go out on the lava as far as Kuainiho from the Ke‘ämoku
boundary. Pull out that pampas grass. And it was just little bit, so we could do it and we
kept after it.
Did you hear how that got started, out of curiosity It’s closer to your home, Honoköhau
side
Mathewman grass they call it.
Yes.
Mathewman, Judge Mathewman
His wife brought it in because it was so pretty.
That’s right, isn’t that amazing!
As a garden plant.
Up at what’s Hannah’s house now, McGuire, Stillman, Pilipö them.
Yes.
That’s right.
Well, there was so little, that Parker Ranch could keep it under control.
Like your gorse
Gorse.
Amazing!
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:43