A Wandering Botanist: Visiting Kauai

eroded hills of Kauai

This spring, we spent most of a week on Kauai, Hawaii.

The north- and east-most of the major Hawaiian islands, it is the oldest. The 10,000 foot mountains it once boasted now reach only to 5243 feet. But that doesn’t make them inconsequential. In fact, erosion reduced the mountains without considering humans. Kauai has canyons and valleys that are not--just simply are not--accessible. The only way in or out is by helicopter. In good weather. Wow, an island of 552 square miles (one third the size of Long Island, New York, 1,401 sq. miles) with places you cannot hike or climb to.

They call Kauai The Garden Island and there are wonderful plants.

hibiscus (Hibiscus sp.)

sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)

ohio lehua, Metrosideros polymorpha

As a desirable place to live, Hawaii has attracted people from all over the world since the first Polynesians reached it. And those people brought their favorite plants, most of which prospered in the warm wet climate. Much of what one sees is introduced. Thus, I particularly appreciated the attempts of botanical gardens and museums to distinguish "native", "canoe plants" brought by the Polynesians (and they are trying to work out which wave of colonization brought which plants), and introduced since European contact. The last group is complicated because in the last 200 years people came from at least the United States and Canada, all over Europe, Japan, China, the Philippines and Samoa, again with their favorite plants.

Above, the hibiscus is a modern hybrid (although there are hibiscus species native to Hawaii), sweet potato is a canoe plant brought by the Polynesians and ohia lehua is native.

Walls from pre-European times

Kauai is a beautiful place, with glorious plants, native to lately introduced. By airplane or helicopter, you can get a glimpse into the inaccessible canyons and the vertical cliffs.