ʻUala, sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), is one of our most ancient and valued food plants.  Growing quickly in adverse conditions, it represents our endurance and resilient, flourishing sweetness despite hardships.

Nearly all parts of the ʻuala are useful.  The milky sap of the vines represents mother's milk, and breastfeeding mothers are sometimes adorned with leis of ʻuala vines and leaves (which are also very nutritious for lactation support) to encourage good milk supply. 

ʻUala also reminds us of our connections across the Pacific.  ʻUala originated in South America and Central America, and may be a living reminder that we once traveled this way, and had ancient connections to the peoples of these lands.  ʻUala is also found in great abundance throughout the Pacific -- Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Okinawa, China, the Filipines, and throughout Southeast Asia -- places to whose peoples we also have ancestral connections.