Proto Polynesian: *Toi
REFLEXES IN SOME POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES:
Tongan: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Niuean: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Samoan: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Tahitian: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Rarotongan: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Maori: Tōī (Cordyline indivisa, "Tōī, Tī kupenga", Asparagaceae)
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 This tree is native to Vanuatu, Fiji, most of tropical Polynesia (except Hawai'i), and possibly the Solomon Islands. The Proto-Polynesian word *Toi appears to be related to the Fijian word doi, a generic term for Alphitonia species, so they may both be reflexes of an earlier stage of the development of the Fijian and Polynesian languages.
Whether this Proto Polynesian word is the progenitor of Mäori töï is, however, problematic, as both vowels in the Māori word are "long", which often indicates there was a consonant present in an earlier stage of the language, and thus if it is an inherited word it would originated from a different source. Nonetheless, exceptions do occur to this tendency, and something about the New Zealand tree may have reminded someone of the tropical and very different toi when they encountered Cordyline indivisa in the New Zealand mountains. The form of the tropical toi is quite different from that of its New Zealand possible namesake - the Alphitonia is a tall tree - up to 30 metres high -- and can have quite an open appearance with many branches, whereas the töï reaches about 8 metres with a dense tufted top borne on a trunk with normally no branches. Both, however, are montane trees, and certainly in a forest environment the tropical toi does have an elegant and graceful trunk, like its New Zealand near-namesake, until it starts to branch. The attenuated shape of the individual leaves is also vaguely reminiscent of those of the tōī.
In Samoa the tree is found from sea level to 1060 m. Its hard, red wood has a variety of uses, from providing the logs used as anvils (tutua) for beating the bark used to make tapa cloth, to paddles, canoe parts, furniture, kava bowls, digging sticks, and firewood. However other trees are often preferred for use as the tutua, as toi tends to split if left in the sun, and milo (Thespesia populnea) is the preferred wood for canoe paddles, but is becoming scarce so toi is a useful substitute.
Throughout its range the wood of this tree has been used in house construction. Its leaves are rich in saponins (chemicals with the properties of soap), and the suds produced by rubbing the leaves were used for soap and for washing out the lime used to kill kutu from the hair, until more modern commercial preparations were substituted.
The bark also has medicinal uses: in some places a decoction of the bark is used for treating stomach aches, constipation, coughs or headaches.
The small fragrant white flowers (illustrated in the gallery below) are borne in panicles, and are followed by dark purple roundish droops (photograph above) containing two seeds. These are eaten sporadically by pigeons and starlings. The leaves are up to 18 x 6 cm. with rounded bases, shiny dark green on the upper surface and light grey green and tomentose below.
The tree is also useful in windbreaks; it stands up well to strong winds. It thrives in moist conditions although it will grow in a variety of habitats, and can become invasive outside its nsatural environment. It is a fast growing tree which can get to 12 metres high in 4 or 5 years. A mature tree will have a trunk 30 or 50 cm in diameter, but this can be 60 cm above the butressed base. It will grow to 25 m. and higher in ideal conditions, but in some unfavourable environments where it has persisted it may reach only 3 m. high. It tends to shed the lower branches (which make excellent firewood) in forest habitats, so will have a straight clean bole (see photograph above), but in open situations can be heavily branched.
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