top of page
Search
The British Are Coming!
In fact, the Red Coats are already here, on the ground and on fence posts. But don’t spread the alarm These are tiny, very tiny,...
A Tale of Two Species
Mint is an important culinary and medicinal herb, used by people world-wide for its strong aroma and taste. Hawai’i has four genera of...
Hibiscus
Hibiscus is a flowering plant that has a strong association with Hawaii. It is part of the Hawaiian Airlines logo and is found on aloha...
O Pioneers!
Something has to be first. When hot lava becomes cool lava, Nature, ever on the move, seeks to fill the emptiness. But what goes first? ...
Hawaiian Holly
Hawai’i’s plants are known for losing their defenses over time due to a lack of predators. Thus, we have mintless mints and a stingless...
Naio
Naio is a plant that hides in plain sight. It is everywhere and takes different guises. It can be a shrub or a small tree, erect or...
Kupaoa and Na'ena'e
Kupaoa and na’ena’e are two endemic, scrubby-looking shrubs (no disrespect intended) that are members of the spectacular and highly...
Down But Not Out
Most native Hawaiian plant lovers know about the native tree fern, hapu’u, falling down and then carrying on with life by sending up new...
Site Specific
Some plants like to spread out and are found in many locations, while others are home-bodies and not found just anywhere. Manele (aka...
Proud Mama
Native Hawaiian plants can be very slow growers. Once I waited a year for a loulu seed to germinate. “Don’t give up!” I was told by an...
Pilo Plus
Pilo, a small tree or shrub, is one of the workhorses of the Hawaiian understory canopy. And, just like a workhorse, it is not showy,...
Lobelioids
Just like Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos, Hawai’i also has a spectacular example of adaptive radiation. Adaptive radiation is the...
The Big Island's Big Five
The fan palms of Hawaii are big trees with big leaves and big fruits. They are distinguished from other palms by their leaves, which have...
Pretty in a Pot
Generally speaking, native Hawaiian plants have not been cultivated for ornamental purposes. But if you have a desire to put a native...
'Ie'ie
’Ie’ie is a climbing woody vine with long, tough, flexible leaves and very large, spectacular flower heads. To see those flowers, you...
The Known and the Unknown
‘Olapa is one of those trees that most forest walkers know. It is quite abundant in the cool, moist forests of Hawai’i Island and...
V.I.P.
It is generally agreed that ‘ohi’a lehua is the premier tree of the Hawaiian forest. Premier in its range of habitats and diversity of...
It's a Bird; It's a Plant!
It’s—both; it’s kolea! Like Superman, the word kolea does double duty. It refers to both the migratory bird and the forest-dwelling tree....
Frankenfern
Daniel Palmer, in “Hawaii’s Ferns and Fern Allies,” calls Hypolepis “a poorly understood tropical and temperate genus…represented in...
Ahoy There!
Hoi kuahiwi is classified as a liana, which is a climbing, woody vine. The tiny tendrils of this endemic plant wrap around other plants,...
bottom of page