Kou, Cordia Subcordata     Description Kou is an evergreen tree growing about 30 feet high. It has a thick, wide-spreading crown, with light gray grooved and flaky bark. Leaves are pointed at the tip and rounded at the base. The flowers of the Kou are orange and scentless. The fruit is enclosed in a calyx, about an inch long, dry, hard and yellow-green in color. Kou is also used as a shade tree around island homes. The Kou is thought to have been brought to Hawaii by early Polynesian voyagers. It played an important part in early Hawaiian life. The soft wood was used to make cups, dishes, and calabashes.   Habitat Kou is found on seashores from East Africa to Polynesia.

In Hawaiian legend, a kahuna, or priestess, was disguised as an old woman stringing the Kou blossoms into a lei at Ewa, Hawaii. A young chiefess angered the old woman by repeatedly asking her for a kou lei.		The old woman magically causes sharks to appear in the water. The sharks eat the chiefess, scattering her blood over the waters edge turning the Ewa soil red. To this days, the Kou flowers are not worn in that area of Ewa.