Special Features and Information
General
Myrsine is in the Primrose family or Primulaceae.
Family members include garden flowers such as shooting star (Dodecatheon spp.), and of course, primrose (Pruimula spp.). But perhaps the most recognizable member, in name at least, is the scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis)--yes, a real plant, unlike the fictional character in the literature and play The Scarlet Pimpernel. Incidentally, this non-native is found in the islands and is generally considered a weed.
Kōlea lau nui (Myrsine lessertiana) is one of nineteen Myrsine spp. endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Other native family members include fourteen species of Lysimachia and the endemic kilioe (Embelia pacifica).
Studies have found that early Hawaiian settlements in Waimanalo, dating close to A.D. 450 [450 C.E.], have fire pits with charcoal of kōlea lau nui within them and thus indicating that these plants grew much lower in elevation than it does today. [Rick Barboza, Hui Kū Maoli Ola]
Hawaiian Name
All native Myoporum species in Hawai‘i are referred to as naio. This is also the name for a parasitic pinworm (Enterobius sp.), a type of seaweed, and an inferior kalo left in the field after harvest [Pukui & Elbert 1986].
Etymology
The etymology of Myrsine is somewhat confusing since the word is also used to describe an Attic girl in Greek mythology. Additionally, there are numerous spellings and forms of the Greek word μυρσίνη (myrsínē) referring to the myrtle plant, myrtle wreaths, and myrtle berries. The word is likely of Semitic origin but might also be pre-Greek [WikipediA;Mrysine(mythology)]. Gledhill [2008] claims Myrsine comes from Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40–90 CE), a Greek physician, pharmacologist, and botanist who used the ancient name, mursinh, for the myrtle plant.
The species name, lessertiana, honors Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert (1773–1847), a French banker and naturalist who owned a private herbarium [The Bible of Botany].