Lao Voices

This common flower, found in many Lao and Thai homes, has gain much interest in Hawaii. But there are some landscape designers in Southern California that find it attractive too. In Lao we call it, “Dok Said Tee” which translates to “the wealthy plant.” In Thai, it’s called Poysean. It English, they call it “Crown of Thorns”. I think it’s such a cool looking plant. It is a succulent, so it doesn’t require much water.

There are many varieties available, but the most popular seem to be the Thai hybrid with large flowers. The one I have (pictured above) has smaller leaves and tiny bright red to pinkish flowers. My mother said if you can get 8 flowers to grow at once, then your fortune will turn for the better. But there is actually more to the story of the 8 flowers.

Heidi Bornhorst has it all down. As she wrote from the Honolulu Advertiser, “It’s a good-luck plant to most in Thailand. Poysean is a combination of two Chinese words meaning “eight saints.” The eight legendary saints sacrificed all of their gold, assets, intelligence and spirit to promote righteousness and justice. By honoring the eight saints, one will be granted good luck in accordance with the specific mythic power of each of the saints: health, bravery, wealth, beauty, artistry, cleverness, poetry and victory over evil spirits.”