The endemic maʻo, Abutilon incanum, grows wild in the Hawaiian Islands. Its tolerance for salt air and sun has helped it thrive in all the islands except for the Big Island. The bitter tasting flowers resemble the hibiscus and were eaten, along with the bark and roots, to help relieve severe stomach cramps.

The ma'o was also used to dye kapa.

Take twenty maʻo flowers
twenty hibiscus flowers (using only the white of the base of the flowes)
twenty nohu flowers,
twenty ʻilima flowers
and a piece of coconut meat.

These are partly dried and eaten by the patient.
In the meantime the following preparation is being made ready:
The bark of four ma'o roots,
a like amount of the bark of the Uhaloa roots,
do the same for popolo roots,
a piece of the mountain apple bark,
a half of a segment of the red sugar-cane,
and a piece of the monkey vine root.

These are thoroughly pounded together with a piece of coconut and emptied into a container about two pints of water; liquid is then strained with the fibers of the Cyprus laevigata. This liquid is then cooked with a red-hot stone thrown into it. As the flowers are eaten (twelve of each for a single dose) a mouthful of this liquid is taken. This constitutes the first dose.

The second dose is made up of eight flowers of each kind chewed with a piece of coconut and, like the first, a mouthful of the liquid follows. Left over liquid may be taken the next day. Laxative may be taken on the fourth day but, should internal disorder occur before that time, a dose of it should be taken immediately with a salt water enema. The patient may eat any article of food which his appetite requires.

Please seek the guidance of your physician or traditional healing specialist before beginning treatment of any kind. Also, please remember that Hawaiian herbal remedies are always used in conjunction with spiritual cleansing and pule (prayer).