THE HAWAIIAN LEHUA 



413 



The lehua is exceedingly variable in its habit of growth. 

 It ranges from a stunted creeper to a magnificent tree 

 of eighty or one hundred feet. These differences are 

 intimately connected, as is to be expected, with the 

 various habitats of the tree. There are four main types : 



i. Prostrate or creeping plants, vine-like, and con- 

 fined to the summit bogs, at elevations of 4000-6000 feet. 



sedges, and other characteristic summit bog plants. 



2. Bushes or shrubs. In this form the plant occurs 

 on the summit ridges, windward precipices, and other 

 steep and unfavorable situations. Many of the arid 

 lava-flow stations exhibit these retarded forms. They' 

 rise to a height of eight to twelve feet, and flower freely. 



3. Medium-sized trees. This is the most character- 



IN BEAUTIFUL HAWAII THE GROUNDS OF THE QUEEN'S HOSPITAL, HONOLULU 



This magnificent driveway is colonnaded with Royal Date palms which add an air of dignity and stateliness to an environment already incom- 

 parable from the standpoint of tropical beauty. 



These have flexible woody stems, about one-quarter inch 

 in diameter, and rooting freely toward the base. Al- 

 though attaining a length of only six to eighteen inches, 

 they produce numerous flowers. This remarkable dwarf 

 form is called Lehua makanoe by the Hawaiians, literally 

 "The lehua in the fog," for it grows only in these water- 

 soaked, fog-swept, summit swamps. Heller described 

 the stunted, prostrate summit lehua as Nania pumila. It 

 grows amidst the tussocks of swamp grasses and 



istic form on all the islands except Hawaii, and it is 

 abundant on the latter island. The lehua, in protected 

 valleys and slopes, attains a height of twenty to forty 

 feet. This is the habit commonly found in the rain- 

 forests of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and parts 

 of Hawaii. The trunk is six to fifteen inches in diameter, 

 and rises clear to a height of fifteen or thirty feet with- 

 out branching. The crown is small, compact, and high, 

 with the foliage crowded to the ends of the branches. 



