Posted on: Friday, November 5, 2004
HAWAI'I GARDENS
White monkeypod nothing but a nuisance
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By Heidi Bornhorst
Q. With all this talk and funding for control of invasive species, what do you think is the worst weed tree? I think the Albizia (white monkeypod) is the major pest. How did it get here? Do you think its fast-growing trunk and large roots are dislodging boulders in the mountains and causing rockslides?
Please tell us more about this obnoxious alien tree pest.
— G Clark Leavitt
A. The white monkeypod is near the top of my weed tree list. It grows rapidly and is brittle. We watched a grove take over and threaten the power lines at Ho'omaluhia botanical garden. If only we could've chopped them out when they were small. State and city departments of transportation should also chop them now along highways before they are 100-foot-plus trees toppling over into the lanes and onto electrical wires.
The first documented white monkeypod was brought to Lyon arboretum by botanist Joseph "Pohaku" Rock. He collected the seeds from Gedeh, Java, Indonesia in 1919. A block of 12 trees was planted in December of 1920. The trees grew really fast in the ideal conditions and undisturbed deep soil at the arboretum. The trees grew 40 feet in just two years.
White monkeypods can grow to 120 feet, but they are brittle and huge limbs will drop unpredictably. There were shattered branches and trunks all over Kalihiwai Valley on Kaua'i after 'Iniki, but the trees also shed limbs in still, windless conditions. White monkeypods are unpredictable and are unsuitable for our Hawai'i Urban Forests.
The trees' flat-layered foliage and striking white branches are attractive at a safe distance, but we do not want to plant them anywhere near buildings, roads or even in parks. The seeds are very weedy and spread by clinging to the papery seedpods and traveling with the trade winds.
The trees were planted all over our islands in watersheds, reforestation projects, and to help hold the soil from eroding off of our islands. You can see them in Waimanalo, Wahiawa and in Lava Trees Park on the Big Island. Kipapa gulch is full of them.
The white monkeypod has had several botanical names. Now they are calling it Falcataria moluccana. It has also been called Albizia moluccana, Moluccan albizia and batai.
Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant. Submit questions at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
