What's up everyone? Thanks again for tuning in to the Epic Gardening

podcast. My name's Kevin. I'm the founder of Epic Gardening.com. Go check it out if you

want some of the best gardening information on the internet. Today we're talking

about the tea plant and no I don't mean

that plant that creates delicious warm drinks for us. I actually mean the Hawaiian

tea plant which is a beautiful house plant with some amazing

varieties that you can add and should add to your home. It adds a beautiful splash of

color. So the house plant known as the Hawaiian tea plant is also known as Cordyline Fruticosa. That's the Latin name. And it is native to Hawaii. It was brought there by early Polynesian settlers.

It can be found in tropical Southeast Asia as well and also some Pacific wetlands,

but the most interesting thing about the tea plant, aside from its beautiful use in the home, is that the leaves can be used in amazing ways.

Roof thatching, food wrapping, clothing, like skirts and sandals, it can actually be fed to

cattle.

You can use it as a dish.

There's medicinal properties going on.

There's liquor that can be distilled from it. You can even use sleds. Use it as a

sled for kids. So if you want to see how many ways you can use the tea plant, well then be my

guess because there's plenty of different ways that it is used.

So Hawaiians actually plant tea around their homes for good luck and the leaves are sometimes

worn to scare off the oggy boogies and attract the good spirits. It is sacred to the God

Lono and the goddess Laca and the leaves are still used today in spiritual

ceremonies and rituals.

There are some really cool varieties of this plant

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