Anthurium cupulispathum is a large-leafed anthurium with a long, hanging spadex. The little dots on the spadex are seeds. The plant originally hails from Equador.
Category Archives: Flowers
Large orange sulphur butterfly
A large orange sulphur butterfly feeds on a bougainvillea. This was one of the few butterflies I’ve seen on a flowering bougainvillea. Not sure whether that’s usual or not.
Bougainvillea blooms
There are a lot of bougainvillea blooming currently, creating swathes of color where they’re planted as hedges or borders. I’ve been surprised by the scarcity of bees and other pollinators around the new flowers. Perhaps this is just a factor of the area where I see most of these flowers.
Bugs on a bird of paradise flower
This variable lady beetle was one of two scuttling around on a bird of paradise flower. The flies seemed very interested in it and kept checking it out. There were also flying ants and a wasp on the flower, drawn by the nectar no doubt.
Leafcutter bee on aptenia cordifolia
A busy leafcutter bee forages on aptenia cordifolia flowers. Aptenia cordifolia is an iceplant that comes from southern Africa.
Wilsonara Castle Issa ‘Hilo Bay’ orchid
Wilsonara orchids are a kind of hybrid oncidium orchid. This one was at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
Crinum asiaticum
Commonly known as spider lily, crinum asiaticum has beautiful, delicate flowers, and sword-like leaves. The flowers are popular with gardeners, though possibly not with those who have kids since the plant is poisonous.
Palila feeding
I’ve made a couple of recent visits to the Palila Forest Discovery Trail, on the slopes of Mauna Kea, in search of palilas, an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper. On one of those visits I was lucky enough to see this bird.
I wrote here about the first time I saw palilas, in late 2017. Those birds were feeding on immature mamane seed pods, one of their main foods. But the bird in this photo has what I think is a naio flower in its grip. The fruits and flowers of naio, otherwise known as false sandalwood, are the other main foods of the palila.
For more information about palila and the Palila Forest Discovery Trail, go to dlnr.hawaii.gov/restoremaunakea/palila-forest-discovery-trail/.
Graham's Island 