Category Archives: Trees

Cannonball tree

I have posted photos of the flower of the cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) before (here, here, and here). But the flowers aren’t what gives the tree its name. It’s the woody cannonballs that are its fruit.

In these photos, a cannonball tree is loaded with fruit. The flowers, and subsequent fruits, grow directly off the trunk. And the fruit itself, well it’s not hard to see why it gets its name. When the fruit falls from the tree it usually breaks open. The pulp and seeds are eaten by animals which go on to disperse the seeds.

Plumeria

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Sweet.’ See more offerings here.

In my part of the Big Island, plumerias are starting to bloom in their curious way where the flowers appear on the tree before the leaves. In warmer parts of the island, plumeria trees are already thick with flowers and leaves. But in all cases, the flowers are redolent with a sweet perfume.

I like this photo because the blooms in this cluster are at different stages, from the tightly-curled buds at bottom right to the fully-open bloom at top left. But my attention was drawn to the flower unfurling in the center, all shadows and light and dappled with raindrops.

Also posted in response to Bushboys Last Photo for January 2020 challenge. See more responses here.

Early morning

Earlier this month, I got up in the wee hours to view the Quadrantids meteor shower, with the idea of taking photos. My camera isn’t the greatest for this, but in the event, it didn’t matter. I caught a peripheral glimpse of one meteor and that was it.

Still, the effort wasn’t without its rewards. The sky was clear and starry, and I liked this scene of the illuminated building, the large kiawe tree, and the dark, starlit sky.

This is my third post on this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Yin-Yang.’ See more responses here.

Herons and ripples

Yesterday, I posted (here) a response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Yin-Yang.’ (See more responses here.)

This is my second offering on the theme, which also features light and dark, but also stillness and movement – the stillness of the herons (there’s a second one in the background) and the movement of the rippling water. I like how the second set of ripples disturbs the first set and the reflections of the palm trees.

Kohala Welcome Center under a full moon

On a recent foray into Hawi to get photos for last week’s Sunday Stills challenge (here), I took these photos of the Kohala Welcome Center. This is the place to get information about North Kohala for visitors en route to Kapaau and Pololu, which marks the end of the highway.

On this particular evening, the welcome center was illuminated by its Christmas display and a full moon, which also highlighted the palm trees that tower over that location.