Kamani is a canoe plant, brought to Hawaii by early Polynesian settlers, though it grows naturally across most of the Pacific islands. Its common name is Alexandrian Laurel (Calophyllum inophyllum).
The wood of the tree was used for canoe building, homes, containers, and food bowls, and the fragrant flowers are popular with bees.
A Fiery Skipper butterfly feeds on a Madagascar Ragwort flower. Both are introduced species and the flower is something of an invasive weed.
Rattlesnake plant (Calathea Crotalifera) is native to Central and South America. This one was at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, but it also grows in the wild in some places here.
For more information about Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, go to htbg.com.
The high winds of a few weeks ago caused a fair amount of damage around the island. At Lapakahi State Historical Park, this tree was toppled and took out a bench that had been set up in its shade. The bench will have to be fixed and set up somewhere else because that shade isn’t coming back anytime soon.
Neoregelia carolinae is known as the blushing bromeliad because, when it’s going to flower, the center turns red, as this one has done.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Peek.’ See more responses here.
I had a couple of photos lined up for this, but a few days ago I was outside cleaning windows. (I do it annually, whether they need it or not!) I got distracted by a kerfuffle in the cane grass behind me. I thought I saw an anole, so dashed inside and got my camera. When I got back and peeked into the tangle mass of cane grass, I could see two anoles locked in mortal combat.
I was pretty sure this was two males fighting. Usually, when there’s a territorial dispute there’s a lot of puffing and posturing that resolves the issue. This time, the two anoles were similar sized and the challenge was on.
It was hard to get a clear view, but each anole had a grip on the other’s head. Both sported dark bruising from the encounter. They wrestled to gain the upper hand, jerking up and down the cane grass as they did so.
Eventually, they fell apart. It was hard to tell who was the winner, but since one of them left the scene, I figured the other had won or defended his territory. However, since he was staggering around like he’d just gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson, the other one might want to regroup and see about coming out for round 2!
I saw these Jackfruits at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden. I took the photo because they were the biggest ones I’ve seen. When I got home and read up about them I discovered these are dainty by Jackfruit standards. Apparently, Jackfruits can weigh up to 120 pounds and can be three feet long and almost two feet around.
What this means is that is that the Jackfruit tree is not a tree to picnic beneath!
For more information about Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, go to htbg.com.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘I’d Rather Be…’ See more responses here.
It had been a while since I went hiking, for various reasons, and it’s something I was missing, something I’d rather be doing. So last week, I headed down to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to try the Ka’u Desert Trail. This backcountry trail has been on my list for a long time, but I had never done it before. For one thing, it’s about as far from my house as one can get on the island. For another, it’s directly downwind from Kilauea Volcano, so when the volcano is active and the trade winds are blowing, gasses blow across the length of the trail.
The latest eruption of Kilauea is currently either paused or over, so gas emissions are much reduced, and last week, the trade winds had given way to winds from the southwest. So off I went.
The trailhead is several miles west of the main entrance to the park, with a strip of parking along the highway. The first mile of the hike is also known at the Footprints Trail. It’s a sort of paved path that threads through ohias to a small building that houses footprints left by early Hawaiians in volcanic mud and ash. Alas, I couldn’t identify any footprints in the display. Shortly after the footprints, the path breaks out of the vegetation into open lava fields. This isn’t a tropical Hawaii walk, this a bleak hellscape Hawaii walk. Or is it?
The trail ascends gently to the only junction for miles around, at Mauna Iki. To the left is a trail back towards the heart of the park. The Ka’u Desert Trail heads to the right and into backcountry wilderness. Mauna Iki was the site of an eruption in 1919 and the trail traverses the lava fields from this eruption.
Much of the trail is over pahoehoe lava, which is rounded and much easier to walk on than jagged a’a lava. The trail is marked by cairns and single rocks placed alongside it. It’s pretty easy to follow with just one or two parts where attention has to be paid to make sure one doesn’t stray.
It wasn’t far along this part of the trail that I first encountered blue lava. That’s right, blue lava. Who knew? But not just blue. There’s bronze, pink, red, orange, gold, and who knows what. I’ve seen colorful lava on the Puna Coast Trail, but this was more varied and quite wonderful. In places the trail crossed this colorful lava and I felt bad for walking on it, though as I hiked I could see many more patches of color out in the lava fields. It’s not wise to leave the trail since there are many lava tubes, some with very thin ceilings.
This is an out and back trail and I turned around once I reached the Kamakai’a Hills, after about 5 miles. It’s another 2 or 3 miles to the next junction where there is a small cabin.
Also posted for Jo’s Monday Walk. See more responses here.
Graham's Island 