[4] ʻIliahialoʻe inhabits dry forests, low shrublands, and lava plains[4] throughout the archipelago, including the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but has been extirpated from Laysan and Kahoʻolawe.

Trees were harvested for export to China between 1791 and 1840, where the hard, yellowish-brown wood was made into carved objects, chests, and incense.

[6] Native Hawaiians used the wood to make pola, the deck on a waʻa kaulua (double-hulled canoe).

[7] Native Hawaiians combined leaves and bark of the ʻiliahialoʻe with naio (Myoporum sandwicense) ashes to treat kepia o ke poʻo (dandruff) and liha o ka lauoho (head lice).

ʻIliahialoʻe shavings mixed with ʻawa (Piper methysticum), nioi (Eugenia reinwardtiana), ʻahakea (Bobea spp.