HAWAII NATURE NOTES
THE PUBLICATION OF THE
NATURALIST DIVISION, HAWAII NATIONAL PARK
AND THE HAWAII NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

HALEAKALA PLANTS
(continued)

KOLEA, Suttonia lessertiana (A.DC.) Mez; syn. Rapanea lessertiana (A.DC.) Degener and Hosaka. Fig. 13. This variable tree grows up to 50 feet tall as one of the common trees around Paliku cabins. The thick leaves with short petioles, crowded near the ends of thick branches, have a beautiful roseate hue when young. The branches are studded with spurs on which grow small 5-parted flowers in clusters of three or more that are followed by dark, purplish-red or black fruits up to 14 inch in diameter, often so numerous that the branch is completely hidden. Hawaiians made a red dye for tapa from the sap and bark. The crimson sap bleeds freely from a cut made deeply into the bark of a living tree.

Figure 13—KOLEA, showing fruit

SELFHEAL, Prunella vulgaris L., a common weed of Eurasian origin, is widespread in rocky, scrub cover, and at Paliku. A dense cluster of small, lipped, blue to purple flowers appears on the end of each upright stem.

PUA'AINAKA, Stenogyne rotundifolia A. Gray. This endemic long-branched shrub of the Mint Family is found only on Haleakala. Within the crater and on upper slopes it is trailing and is relatively rare, being most abundant in Kaupo Gap. The attractive, pale purple flowers in whorls of six are 1-1/2 inches long and are covered with silky, white hair. They appear in late summer. Outside the crater, S. haliakalae Wawra is abundant in forests as a large, diffuse shrub that often forms a dense mat over surrounding shrubs. Another mint, Stenogyne crenata A. Gray, was collected by Skottsberg among shrubs on the south wall of the crater.

GROUNDCHERRY, Cape Gooseberry, POHA, Physalis peruviana L. A South American perennial herb, widely scattered throughout Hawaii, well-known for its round, orange, many-seeded, husk-enclosed fruits that are edible raw or preserved. It grows extensively in Kaupo Gap. The large yellow flowers with brownish spots near the center appear from June to late fall in this area.

PLANTAIN, LAUKAHI, Plantago sp. Plantain is a hardy, cosmopolitan, stemless weed forming a rosette of broadly oval leaves, 1-10 inches long, near the ground. The tiny flowers and seed capsules are borne as cylindrical heads at the ends of tall stalks. The plant is widespread along the side of the road as well as within the crater. Of several hundred species of Plantago, four or more are endemic to Hawaii. One of these, P. princeps Chain. & Schl., is a shrub several feet high with tufts of long narrow leaves at the ends of the branches. It grows on cliffs at Kaupo Gap. Other plantains with thick leaves, silky underneath, creep on the ground in Koolau Gap.

KUKAENENE, Coprosma ernodioides A. Gray. Fig. 15. A common woody shrub with long trailing branches that send up short, erect, densely foliose branchlets at each node. The awl-shaped leaves are rigid and dark-green. The fruits are shiny black drupes which are a favorite food of the native goose, nene.

Figure 15—KUKAENENE, fruting twig, male and female flowers

PILO, Coprosma montana Hillebr. Fig. 14. One of the commonest shrubs throughout the crater and from Park Headquarters to 9,000 feet outside the crater. It is a small tree up to 20 feet tall in Kaupo Gap. As a shrub the ascending tips look like jets shot up from densely foliose branchlets. The alternate, small, thick leaves have conspicuous nerves impressed on the upper face. Below each pair of leaves is a pair of triangular bracts, stipules, with cilia on the upper border. The greenish, inconspicuous flowers are followed by showy, bright orange, yellow, or red fruits which make the plant a subject attractive to color photographers in fall.

Figure 14—MOUNTAIN PILO. Twig, fruits, leaf shapes, magnified flower and leaf showing veination.

MANONO, Gouldia terminalis (H. & A.) Hillebr. A shrub or small tree growing on the talus above the Paliku cabins. It has shiny, opposite leaves and dense terminal clusters of greenish, four-lobed, cup-shaped flowers that are followed by small black berries. It blooms in late summer. The genus is one of three in the Coffee Family that are endemic to Hawaii.

CATCHFLY, Silene struthioloides A. Gray. Fig. 16. A plant that is typical only of arid cinders and ash on East Maui and on the island of Hawaii. With the silversword as its companion in Haleakala Crater the plants are found at the bases of barren cones. They show neat adaptation to their stark home. The Haleakala plants, as illustrated, are low and compact, but those growing at Kilauea Crater bear only a few awl-shaped leaves and resemble dead twigs. The thick tap roots are sweet and edible. About 250 species belong to this genus, a member of the Pink or Carnation Family. A well-known introduced weed, the English catchfly, Silene anglica L., was reported by Degener at 10,000 feet on Haleakala.

Figure 16—CATCHFLY, Silene struthioloides

'OHA, Lobelia grayana E. Wimm. A low plant with woody trailing stems with knobby leaf scars and ending with a crowded arrangement of silvery, linear leaves, 4-8 inches long and crowned with densely flowered racemes, 6-15 inches long. The flowers are lilac-blue with a satiny sheen. The plant is not uncommon on wet pali from 5,000-7,000 feet at Paliku, Kaupo and Koolau Gaps, and in the north western end of the crater. It is a glorious plant worth hunting for and going miles to see.

NAUPAKA. Scaevola chamissoniana Gaud. This shrub was noted only on the east side of Kaupo Gap. This is a varying species found up to the 6,000-foot elevation. It is not common and blooms in summer. The white flowers with purplish streaks are slit to the base on the upper side. They look like flower-halves rather than complete corollas. There are several legends about the peculiar flower, each dealing with lovers separated from each other. In a song composed about it, the lovers were forceably parted, so the girl divided a perfect corolla, giving one half to her lover while keeping the other half herself. One of the lovers carried the flower to the sea, naupaka kahakai, the other to the mountain, naupaka kuahiwi, where the plants are found today.

MAUI WORMWOOD, Artemisia mauiensis (A. Gray) Skottsb. Fig. 17. Typical of Maui and found only on Haleakala, this hoary ornamental shrub, usually 2-3 feet high, perches on cliffs usually above the reach of man. It has a densely-branched crown with silvery leaves that are aromatic and bitter. The leaves are composed of thin segments that are covered with a mat of cottony hair, giving the plant a silvery appearance. The small orange flowers are borne in terminal panicles.

The Hawaiians call the wormwood AHINAHINA, applied also to silversword, geranium, and other gray plants. The basic word refers to the color of silvery-gray hair, the connection being obvious, Hawaiians use the pounded leaves to relieve asthma. The genus is large, having some 250 species that are generally found in arid regions. The sagebrush of the western states, A. tridentata Nutt., is the best known to most park visitors,

Figure 17—MAUI WORMWOOD, leaves, magnified flowers

KO'OKO'OLAU, Bidens sp. Like Artemisia, the genus is a huge one with over 200 species and belongs to the Composite Family which includes dandelions, daisies, and sunflowers. E. E. Sherff of the Chicago Museum of Natural History, a specialist on the genus, lists sixty species native to Hawaii. Native KO'OKO'OLAU are shrubby and often of great beauty. This is true of B. campylotheca pentamera Sherff which sprawls over the vegetation in Koolau Gap. It has fern-like leaves and large, pretty, yellowish flower-heads, Hawaiians use the tips of young plants for tea, often in preference over imported tea.

Besides the native varieties, three introduced species grow in the islands, including beggar ticks or Spanish needles, B. pilosa L. It is a nuisance, as the three-pronged fruits that give it the common name readily attach themselves to clothing as well as to fur of passing animals.

KUPAOA, NA'ENA'E, Fig. 18, 19. Several kinds of composite shrubs are called by these names, both of which mean fragrance or perfume. They were used for scenting tapa. They belong to the endemic genera Dubautia and Railliardia, both of which have species found in the park. Dubautia plantagiena var. platyphylla Hillebr. Gaud., a shrub at 6,000 feet in Kaupo and Koolau Gaps, has linear leaves 4-8 inches long, with 7-13 conspicuous nerves. It is a small tree below Nianiau Crater. It is a handsome sight when in flower; the flower-heads are yellow. In general appearance it is much like that of Railliardia platyphylla A. Gray which grows in cinders and ash, mostly inside the crater. At 8,000 feet, R. platyphylla becomes a straggling shrub. The commonest member of this group, Railliardia menziesii A. Gray, is a shrub in the crater and on the rim from 8,000-10,000 feet. Between 6,000 and 7,000 feet it is a tree up to 20 feet tall. The dark green, pointed, linear, fleshy leaves are ranked in vertical rows of four on upright stems and branches. Its dark yellow flower-heads are borne in panicles. R. scabra DC., found in Kaupo Gap and on Leleiwi Pali, does not have the regular leaf arrangement.

Figure 18—NAENAE, Dubautia plantaginea

Figure 19—KUPAOA, Railliardia menziesii

PAMAKANI-HAOLE, Eupatorium glandulosum HBK. Eupatorium is another huge genus of the Composite Family with several hundred species, mostly from tropical America. Five species have been introduced into Hawaii of which two are bad pests. E. glandulosum, a native of Mexico, spread rapidly on Maui, crowding out desirable plants and making pasturelands worthless. A parasitic insect, Procecidochares utilis Stone, was introduced in 1944 to combat it. This insect belongs to the order DIPTERA, the flies, gnats, midges, and mosquitoes, and to the family TRYPETIDAE, that includes the Mediterranean fruitfly and the common "apple-worm" which is actually the larva of a fly. The trypetids infest living plants, frequently causing galls, and have piercing ovipositors, often prominent, with which females deposit eggs beneath the skin of their host.

It is not expected that the studied introduction of a parasite will result in the extermination of a host, but rather that it will check unbridled increase and spread. The method is termed "biological control." It has been successfully adopted against several menaces, such as cactus, lantana, and a fern-weevil, Syragrius fulvitarsis Pascoe, that kills amaumau ferns in the Kilauea Crater area.

Pamakani abound throughout the crater, even clinging as tiny starvelings in small cracks in cliffs, like those along Halemauu Trail. Every plant shows swellings in which the little maggots live, and exit holes through which the new adults emerge. Many plants bear only few leaves and fight tenaciously for survival. Big plants may be seen along Kaupo Trail. Pamakani means wind-blown, in reference to the method of seed dispersal.

HAIRY CAT'S-EAR, "Dandelion," Hypochoeris radicata L. A common composite, native to the Mediterranean, found in abundance throughout the park. Its narrow leaves with yellow hairs form flat rosettes. A branching, leafless stalk up to a foot or more tall bears yellow flower-heads, an inch in diameter, that resemble the well-known dandelion, Taraxacum officinale Weber, by which common name many call the cat's-ear. The hairless, H. glabra L. is a smaller plant with smooth leaves and flower-heads 1/4 inch in diameter. The cat's-ear is a favorite food of the Hawaiian goose, nene. Gosmer is a common name used locally.

WOOD GROUNDSEL, Senecio sylvaticus L., a native of Europe, is a branching, weedy herb, 1-2 feet high, abundant along the foot of Kalahaku Pali. It has irregularly lobed leaves and small yellow flowers in a tight flower head, 1/3 inch long and 1/2 inch in diameter.

TETRAMALOPIUM. Fig. 20. This endemic genus has a dozen species, two of which are a pride of Haleakala. The small leaves are narrow and crowded at branch ends. The showy flowerheads of white, pinkish, or lavender ray florets surround a disk of purplish central florets. T. humile (A. Gray) Hillebr. is found inside and outside the crater between 6,000-9,000 feet. It is a small, low, shrubby plant with narrow, spoon-shaped leaves quite covered with sticky, curly hair. The plant growing in cracks between rocks at the very summit is stiffer and considerably different.

Figure 20—TETRAMALOPIUM

SILVERSWORD, AHINAHINA, Argyroxiphium sandwicense DC. Illustrations on covers. As famous as the crater itself, and almost as well-known, the silversword is regarded as typical of Haleakala, although its natural range embraces Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and Hualalai from 7,000 to 12,000 feet. A lustrous silvery down thickly covers all leaves and makes the plant exceedingly beautiful. It is highly evolved to withstand the extreme dryness of cinder cones and the intense sunlight of lofty elevation. Surprising to most visitors on first acquaintance is the fact that it bears no relationship to the yucca of the Lily Family, but belongs to the COMPOSITAE along with sunflowers, asters, and chrysanthemums. Like Dubautia and Railliardia, it has no close relatives outside of the islands. Wilkesia, endemic to Kauai, is so closely similar that some authorities class it in the genus Argyroxphium.

The Haleakala silversword has a short, simple, woody stem 2-3 inches in diameter crowded with thick, dagger-like leaves arranged spirally around it. After growth from 7 to as much as 20 years, a foliose raceme 3-8 feet high develops on which 100-500 flower-heads nod. Each has a central disk of hundreds of bright yellow florets surrounded by a score of short reddish-purple ray florets. The flowering season is from June through October. The whole plant dies after flowering but once.

The greensword, A. virescens Hillebr., a much rarer plant with green leaves, once grew from 6,000 to 9,000 feet. Today it has all but vanished; a few plants are still to be found in Koolau Gap just outside the park, and between rocks on the edges of cliffs at Kaupo Gap.

Visitors once gathered specimens of silversword as evidence that they had been up the mountain, even as the mountaineer gathers edelweiss in Switzerland. Thoughtless people uprooted the silvery globes merely to watch them tumble down the slopes. Goats eat the growing heart of the plant. Grazing stock are incompatible with its existence. It has many insect parasites (see The Insect Life). All of these, singly and in combination, threaten the existence of the species.

The outer slopes of the mountain had thousands of silverswords according to early accounts, while today they are rare. In the crater, some of the cones were so thickly covered that they appeared to be bathed in moonlight. Except for strong, enlightened action, this beautiful plant might have completely vanished from the mountain.