Category Archives: Plants

Coconut orchid

Coconut orchids (Maxillaria tenuifolia) are originally from Central America. They’re noteworthy for their flowers’ blood red color and a coconut scent. I admit, I didn’t detect much scent, but my sense of smell is not exactly acute. The flowers bloom in spring for a week or more.

I saw this orchid at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden during a visit with Terri, from Second Wind Leisure Perspectives, who was visiting the Big Island for a week. Terri hosts the Sunday Stills challenge and her theme this week, coincidentally, is ‘Tropical.’ See more responses here.

We had a good stroll around the garden taking the usual slew of photos. Though I’m a regular visitor to the garden I always see new things, and this coconut orchid was one. For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.

Also posted in response to this week’s Friendly Friday challenge on the theme of ‘Feelings of Spring.’ See more responses here.

Bees on haole koa

Haole koa is the local term for Leucaena leucocephala. It means ‘foreign acacia koa.’ Acacia koa is a native hardwood tree that has been used in building everything from guitars to canoes.

Haole koa got its name because it looks similar to young acacia koa trees. It also looks similar to kiawe, but lacks the vicious thorns of that tree.

This is the time of year that haole koa trees flower and their white flower heads look like puff balls. These are popular with the bees, which were swarming all over a small group of haole koa trees just a few days ago.

Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Spring has Sprung.’ See more responses here.

Anthurium cupulispathum

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.

Large orange sulphur butterfly

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.

Ferns growing in lava

Ferns are one of the first plants to establish a foothold in lava flows. These ferns are on the northeast slope of Mauna Loa with Mauna Kea in the background.

Footstool palm

Footstool Palm

The footstool palm (Livistona rotundifolia) is a native of South-east Asia. This one was heavy with berries.

Bougainvillea blooms

Bougainvillea closeup 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.

Bougainvillea flower

First Big Island visit

Pololu beach

Turtle at Punuluu Tropical foliage Lava flowing This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Turning point.’ (See more responses here.) Since this is a photo blog about the Big Island it seems appropriate to post some photos from my first visit here in 2010, a visit which was the catalyst for the move to the island. There was no ‘ah ha’ moment, but these photos give a general idea of some of the things that appealed.

The top photo is Pololu beach on the North Kohala coast. Second photo is a Hawaiian green turtle resting on the black sand beach at Punalu’u County Beach Park. Third photo is tropical foliage next to a small cascading stream. Fourth photo shows some small lava breakouts in the flow that was active at that time. Conveniently, that activity was about 100 yards from the parking area and only 10 feet or so beyond where I was standing. The bottom photo is a view of Two Step, a popular snorkeling spot, from Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park.

Two Step from Place of Refuge

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii