Posted on: Friday, March 4, 2005

HAWAI'I'S GARDENS
Rains make native plants blossom

By Heidi Bornhorst

We took a hiking and gourmet-eating trip to the Volcano area of the Big Island. Lots of great native Hawaiian plants were in bloom or showing flushes and spurts of growth from the recent rains and moist winter weather.

Bright golden puffs of mamane blossoms popped out here and there amidst the towering hapu'u ferns and 'ohi'a lehua trees. The yellow and beige pompons of koa blossoms (Acacia koa) littered the ground and filled the koa trees growing above. Koa and mamane are related, both being in the bean family, Fabaceae. Both have bean-like seedpods. Many native Hawaiian birds and insects live in and around, feed upon and pollinate these prized native trees. The palila bird depends on mamane trees for sustenance.

Juicy 'ohelo berries dripped from pendant stems full and overburdened by the fruits in bright shades of red, pink, orange and yellow. 'Ohelo (Vaccinium reticulatum) is related to blueberries and cranberries, as well as heather.

They are all in the Ericaceae family.

At Kipuka Puaulu, the manele or Hawaiian soapberry (Sapindus saponaria) trees were putting out an impressive crop of shiny fruits. I have never seen such a huge production of fruit on these trees. It may be from all the rains after about 10 years of drought. Our Junior Hawaiian Arborists, Coltrane Kubo, and Sage and Malakane Severson, collected manele fruits and seeds from the ground to grow for Arbor Day. Kane also took one precious seed home to plant in his yard.

Kolea, or myrsine, were in full pink blossom. They have tiny flowers that grow near the stem of the tree. The leaves are also very pretty, thick and shiny green with a bold pink midrib.

Iliahi or sandalwood was looking vigorous and was also flowering. The species that grows up here is Santalum ellipticum. It has beige and tan — sandalwood color, in fact — four-petaled flowers. The fruits are green and turn purple when ripe.

Some 'ohi'a lehua trees were in bloom, and we were all careful not to pick any. The liko, or new flushes of leaves, were in bold and amazing colors with huge, moisture-induced new leaves.

We had wonderful weather, sparkling chilly, spicy-chili-requiring mornings, with warming days and star-filled nights.

Brilliant snow dusted the peaks of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, and you could feel that true chill in the winds blowing down toward us off the snowfields that diminished daily.

Winter in Hawai'i sure is a gorgeous season.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions to islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.