Friday, August 9, 2013

Plants and Flowers in Maui

red hibiscus
Hawaii has some of the most exotic and amazing flowers and colors.  Last year and the year before, I did a post on exotic fruit that we saw on the island. However, this year, I decided to writing about all the gorgeous plants and flowers that we saw. 

Hawaii's state flower is the yellow hibiscus also known as the pua aloalo.  This flower comes in yellow, red, and pink. Hawaii adopted the yellow hibiscus in 1988 as the official state flower.The hibiscus is also found in Asia and the Pacific islands. It is believed that there were originally only five hibiscus species native to the Hawaiian islands.My favorite hibiscus flower is the yellow one because yellow is a cheery color and matches the flower. It is also my favorite color.


Yellow hibiscus (State Flower)












hibiscus









pink hibiscus













Red Ti


The Red Ti plant, also known as the Cordyline Fruticosa, is more commonly called the Hawaiian Good Luck plant or simply the Ti plant. This evergreen palm is from the Agave family and is still used in Hawaii today to make grass skirts for traditional celebrations.

There are many varietals of the Red Ti plant, some of which are more popular for use as indoor potted plants, while others are grown outdoors for landscaping, hula skirt production, or as accents in flower arrangements. The Red Ti rhizomes are also edible, although they are rarely eaten by humans today.

Red Ginger

The Red Ginger plant is native to parts of Melanesia.
The flower comes in a few different colors such as red, pink, or white.
This plant can grow up to 15 feet (5 m) tall, but usually much less.
Here in Hawaii, Red Ginger is usually found growing at the edge of lowland forests, trails and roads. The flowers make beautiful, long-lasting cut flowers and are popular for tropical flower arrangements.






Wow, that is a huge leaf.  It is bigger than my sisters hand.





Singapore Plumeria, Singapore Graveyard Flower, Frangipani

Here in Hawaii, Singapore Plumeria is grown in sunny places and usually in lower elevation.  The flowers are wonderfully fragrant. Singapore Plumeria flowers are made into leis or worn tucked behind the ear. This beautiful flower surprisingly is poisonous.  The milky latex sap can irritate the skin.




Allamanda, Yellow Allamanda, Golden Trumpet

Here in Hawaii, Allamanda grows in wet to areas at lower elevations and is especially common along roadsides. This naturalized flowering vine is native to northern South America and Brazil. Just like the Singapore Plumeria, the Allamanda is poisonous if cut or damaged.














Acacia Trees

The Koa Acacia is one of the largest species of trees in the world with more than 800 different types growing in warm, tropical and desert-like regions of both hemispheres. The Koa Acacia is native to Hawaii.  It is my favorite tree because I love the flat tree tops.






Haleakalā Silversword
Haleakalā Silversword is an interesting plant and is part of the daisy family.  This plant grows on the Haleakala Volcano. The Haleakala Silversword blooms one time in its life and then the entire plant dies.The plant can live up to 50 years before ever producing a flower. When it does bloom, the flower is a long red stalk that grows 2 meters high.




Palm trees




Have you seen any of these flowers?

What is your favorite plant?

6 comments:

  1. Dear Miriam,

    Wow! What a fantastic overview of the beautiful flowers of Hawaii! You know that Hawaii is one of my favorite places, so to read your post was quite lovely for me!

    Although the plants and flowers are all gorgeous, one of my favorites is the plumeria. I remember seeing them all over the islands. Not only were they pretty, but they were delightfully fragrant! Mr. Yollis and I liked them so much, we planted one in our backyard. It is nowhere near as big and flowery as the ones in Hawaii, but hopefully someday it will grow tall and produce many flowers.

    We used to go to the market when we got to Hawaii and buy a spectacular array of Hawaiian flowers. I would then go back to our condo and make a bouquet for us to enjoy during the trip. It always lasted a long time!

    Besides memories, did you bring any souvenirs home from your trip?

    Mahalo!

    Your proud former teacher,
    Mrs. Y♥llis

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Miriam,
    I love your post and the beautiful pictures of different flowers and plants. While traveling we always try to visit botanical gardens ( I love flowers ) and I make many pictures of the flowers. I have a plumeria tree in my yard exactly the same as on your picture with yellow fragrant flowers. Plumeria can have different colored flowers. Did you see other color flowers Plumeria in Hawaii?
    Love you,
    Grandma Tanya

    ReplyDelete
  3. Miriam
    Wonderful to see you continuing with your superb blogging work and yet again you have out done yourself by making a brilliant choice of what you wanted to write about and putting in detail photographs of your pictures. I thought that the description seemed like something that you would find in an encylopedia or online somewhere. It seemed very detailed and knowledgeable. Unlike Mrs Yollis I haven't ever been to Hawaii so I haven't seen the flowers that you have mentioned but having read your excellent report I don't think that I need to go!
    Mr Webb and Room Five, Melville Intermediate School, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand.
    melvilleroom8.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mr. Webb and class,

      Thank you for your wonderful comment. Hawaii was a superb experience! The flowers I saw were quite amazing and I think you should visit Hawaii not just for its flowers but also for its amazing beaches and just the beauty of the nature.

      I will definitely check out your blog as well.

      Your blogging buddy,
      Miriam

      Delete
  4. hi im Levi . we started to train once a week on a thursday afternoon for one hour.Then when it came closer to Winter Olympics we started training every day in the morning.the Winter olympics kids trained for 9 weeks from Lev from Melville intermediate ,Hamilton New Zealand.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like this post because It is my best choice flower. flowering plants Papillio, French for "butterfly", produces flowers that actually appear capable of fluttering away. The most famous of the exotic amaryllis, Papillio makes an amazing houseplant, growing larger as the seasons pass with the addition of smaller side bulbs. Snowy petals with maroon brushings and stripes, tinged with lime green. Flowers are 6" across and numerous. Truly a winged wonder.

    ReplyDelete

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