Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [48]
Of course, what we see today is not what the first Polynesians saw. Most ‘Hawaiian’ agricultural products are imports – papayas, pineapples, mangoes, bananas, macadamia nuts, coffee. Also, over half of Hawaii’s native forest is now gone – due to logging, conversion to agriculture, invasive species and so on – and only 10% of Hawaii’s dry forest remains. As a rule, low-lying areas have been more heavily altered by human development and invasive species than higher-altitude terrains. Of Hawaii’s 1300 endemic native plant species, over 100 are extinct and 273 are endangered.
FLOWERS
What’s wrong with a place where it’s common to wear flowers in your hair and around your neck? The classic hibiscus is native to Hawaii, but many varieties have also been introduced, so that now more than 5000 varieties grow on the islands. However, it’s perhaps fitting that the state flower, the yellow Hibiscus brackenridgei, was added to the endangered species list in 1994. The koki′o ke′oke′o, a native white hibiscus tree that grows up to 40ft high, is the only Hawaiian hibiscus with a fragrance. Other common native plants include the yellow ‘ilima, popular for making leis, and the seed-filled liliko′i (passion fruit).
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For a fun, gorgeous ‘What’s that?’ guide to native flora, Flowers and Plants of Hawaii by Paul Wood is a winner.
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DARWIN’S DREAM: HAWAIIAN INSECTS
The Hawaiian islands are home to an estimated 10,000 native insects, 98% of which are endemic. These creepy-crawlies evolved from a mere 350 to 400 colonizing species; on average, every bug that was tossed into the jet stream and crash-landed successfully became two dozen new bugs uniquely adapted to various niches in Hawaii’s diverse island ecosystems.
What puzzles scientists, though, is that there is no average rate. Some species hardly evolved at all, while others are off-the-charts: Drosophila flies evolved into over 600 species; Hyposmocoma moths evolved into over 350 species. Eight other insects account for over 100 species, some particular to only an acre or two.
One of the most common adaptations was losing wings, or flightlessness. Most of Hawaii’s insects arrived by air – mainly beetles, small flies, wasps, moths, bugs and leafhoppers. Hawaii has no native ants, termites or cockroaches (or mayflies or bumble bees, or 85% of the world’s insect families). In some places, like lava tubes, the evolutionary process is so accelerated that flighted, flightless and intermediary species exist in a single cave, the evolutionary puzzle pieces napping side by side.
Saltwater species adapted to freshwater, and vice versa, and the occasional shift from herbivore to carnivore was not unknown. In Hawaii, rather than eat the leaves they sit on, 18 moth caterpillar species learned to ambush and eat flies. Similarly, the wekiu – a quarter-inch-long bug endemic to high-altitude Mauna Kea – learned to catch and eat wind-blown insects swept up from the lowlands. The wekiu also developed ‘antifreeze’ blood to keep it from crystallizing in Mauna Kea’s subfreezing climate.
Arctic winter is a rare problem in Hawaii, but if Hawaii’s insects illustrate anything, it’s that life changes as it must.
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Strangely enough, while Hawaii’s climate is ideal for growing orchids, there are only three native species – apparently orchids didn’t travel well on their own. In the 1800s Chinese immigrants began bringing them, and today a thriving orchid industry helps define the ‘orchid isles.’ Hawaii is also abloom with scores of introduced ornamental and exotic tropical flowers, including blood red anthuriums with heart-shaped leaves, brilliant orange-and-blue bird-of-paradise and a myriad drooping heliconia.
TREES
The most bewitching of native Hawaiian trees is the koa, nowadays found only at higher elevations. Growing