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Stunted Ohia Trees in the Bogs of Hawaii
Posted: November 9, 2007
Ohia lehua assumes the form of a stunted shrub in the wet montane bogs of the Hawaiian Islands. The high mountains of Molokai, Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii receive more than 300 inches of rain a year. In areas where rain water cannot drain faster than it accumulates on the surface, the earth becomes waterlogged and a bog is formed.
Bogs are usually covered in low-lying vegetation with grasses, sedges, mosses, and lichens dominating the landscape. Ohia lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), which routinely reach 30-40 feet tall on the lava fields of the Big Island, are severely stunted from oxygen deprivation in the water-logged environment.
This photo of Kanaele Bog shows a stunted ohia lehua tree a foot tall in the foreground growing on the nearside of a meandering drainage pond with a pair of amorous dragonflies hovering overhead. On the farside of the pond are two rare lobelias. At only 1600 feet elevation, Kanaele Bog on Kauai is the only intact low-elevation bog left in Hawaii.
This stunted ohia tree with velvety purple liko (young leaves) grows along side sedges and lichens in Alakai Swamp on Kauai. Alakai is home to the largest concentration of bogs in the Hawaiian Islands at over 4,000 feet elevation and can be reached by hiking on an interconnected system of trails and boardwalks from Kokee State Park.
Mikinalo, the native sundew, is an unusual plant that thrives along side stunted ohia lehua in the bogs at Alakai. Mikinalo is a carnivorous plant that uses sticky droplets on its leaves to catch insects that stray too close. In this photo, the sundew and ohia leaf are surround by white lichens and green sedges that dominate much of the stark landscape at Alakai.
Red muo (buds) sprout from the tip of a stunted ohia in Alakai. The native mistletoe, Hulumoa, grows on this stunted ohia as a parasite and draws nutrients from its host.
The ohia lehua trees at Pepeopae Bog on Molokai are among some of the smallest. These stunted trees produce flowers and seeds as adults no bigger than 8 inches tall. Pepeopae Bog is on Kamakou Mountain and can reached by hiking on a boardwalk that starts from The Nature Conservancy’s Kamakou Preserve.