I had family in town and took them to a short hike with expansive views over Kahana Bay. While very popular with out of town guests, I was pleasantly surprised to come across some native plants persisting at low elevation amongst the invasive scrub. Let’s take a look at these survivors on the windward coast.

When I first started this blog, a vast majority of my content was hiking posts. While perhaps some readers utilized those posts as a sort of guide, I used them as more a diary/ notebook of my time under the tutelage of Joel. I’ll still read them from time to time in fact. Nonetheless, as my work with reforestation evolved, hiking/ botanical surveying became a smaller component of my time and this blog. So when I started coming across native flora on this purely touristy hike, I leapt at the chance to do an old school Studia Mirabilium hiking post.

Unsurprisingly, the first native plant we came across was Hala (Pandanus tectorius). Hala, indigenous throughout the Pacific, can hold up well against aggressive non-native trees. It germinates readily; one can still come across plenty of Hala seedlings and saplings on the forest floor. It gives me some confidence that these populations are maintaining themselves. That fact is an unfortunate rarity among native plants.

So while I was almost expecting to come across a few Hala trees, I didn’t really think I would come across this. This is `akia (Wikstroemia oahuensis). It can actually still be found in degraded habitat so really it should not have come as a surprise to me as much as it did. But this was the plant that gave me pause and kept my eyes peeled for other survivors.

Another native we came across was this `ulei (Osteomeles anthyllidifolia). Like elsewhere, `ulei can still form dense thickets. At the top of crouching lion, large areas were still dominated by this hardy native plant.

I was particularly impressed by the number of `Ohi`a trees (Metrosideros polymorpha var. imbricata) that were found among the Schflerra and Pandanus. For how much longer remains to be seen; we noticed several dead or dying trees along the trail. Unlike Hala, we were not seeing any seedling recruitment.

Near the top of the trail on some rocky outcrops was a small population of `ala `ala wai nui wahine (Coleus australis). These plants are quite hardy; I’ve seen them thrive and reseed themselves in pseudo-cultivated areas with little care.

Close to the `ala `ala wai nui wahine was this lovely individual of `ilima (Sida fallax). This species is also quite hardy.

I was really pleased to come across this plant. Right as one crests the ridgeline, there is a large rocky overhang that provides a decent amount of shade even in the mid-day sun. I am sure many hikers rest here before they take their photos at the top. And right under this overhang are a couple `akoko (Euphorbia degeneri). From my perspective it’s a little annoying, there are several species of non-native Euphorbia which are quite weedy, they’ll pop up just about anywhere. But the native `akoko, the plants that evolved in this place are having a much rougher go of it. I only saw a handful of individuals.

Overall, I was quite happy to come across this assemblage of native plants persisting at such a low elevation on the windward side. My guess is that we were not much higher than 200-300 ft. With a little help, I can foresee a future where there are quite a bit more native plants in this area. Again, this is from my perspective. The reason I don’t hike anymore and do hiking blog posts is that I found place like this on Pu`u `Ohi`a. A remnant native forest slowly being overtaken by non-native plants. A place that has seen much loss, but has so much potential. For me, instead of hiking and looking at plants, spending the time and effort working a specific site has been much more fulfilling. The same thing that happen at our site with a few dedicated individuals could also very easily happen on this gorgeous bluff overlooking Kahana Bay.