Learning a little about native plants

These past two weeks Katie and I have been learning about our native plants.  Our good friend Joshua just graduated from UH Manoa and knows a lot about the plants we encounter on the trails.  We were fortunate enough to have him tag along and teach us. 

After my day with the army we decided to hike an East Honolulu ridge.  We learned the names of all kinds of different plants.  Here are some of them. 

This is the flower of a holei plant.  It's similar to plumeria.

This one is halapepe.

A vine that we pass by a lot on the trail is called hoi kuahiwi.  It has heart shaped leaves. 

We learned plant after plant.  Joshua quizzed us along the way if we ran into the same plant.  The plant names were slowly getting etched into my brain. 

Here is Joshua leading the way followed by Lynne, Katie, and Cory.  That day the summits were socked in and we got the occasional drenching of the passing showers.

When the showers cleared we saw some yellow ohia blossoms. 

We also got to try some ohia ha berries.  They taste similar to ohia ai, mountain apple. 

A real treat was seeing a budding haha or cyanea.  These are the flowers that the honeycreeper birds feed on. 

A week went by and I was itching to get back on the trail again and learn more!  This past week again Joshua came out with Nate, Emma, and Jay.  I also invited a few friends and some new ones as well to come out and learn.  Darren, Bernice and Sarah also came along and hopefully learned a little. 

The first plant we bumped into was ohe naupaka.  Here's Katie and I goofing off. 

Half way up the ridge we were tired so we stopped for a quick break.  The summit was our destination. 

This was our view at the top looking back towards town. 

This beautiful yellow flower is called kamakahala.  Josh found some near the summit. 

Next to the kamakahala were a bunch of pilokea. 

Here is Nate shooting some ohia blossoms. 

Aside from the plants the views were breathtaking. 

Sarah, Darren, and Bernice learned about the plants that day as well. 

Last picture is my favorite plant, lapalapa flapping in the wind with this view. 

I hope to broaden my view of hiking and take notice of plants and learn their names.  A lot of the plants we pass by on the trail every time we hike can be found no where else on the planet.  We just have to keep and eye out for them.  I hope this inspires you to go out and learn.  There is also a group on facebook that is dedicated to the flora and fauna of Hawaii which can be found here if you are so interested.

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