Tasty Fruit

 

In the World Botanical Garden there were some fruits on the ground along the pathway, so in characteristic unsupervised fashion, we decided to try one. It looked like a grapefruit, it smelled like a grapefruit,but, O Man, it tasted like all the sourness of 400 grapefruit rolled into one.

Noni or Indian Mulberry

 

 

This small tree with large glossy leaves was important in Polynesian medicine to treat muscle and joint pain. The leaves were placed on the affected area with heated stones and the wax from the leaves were massaged into the skin. it grows primarily in the coastal areas. In fact there were several near where we went snorkeling. This is definitely not an edible fruit. I found one on the ground and was thinking about biting it till I got a whiff of it. Phew!!!

Skeletonized Leaves

 

 

I am not sure what kind of tree this is, but I am sure that I have never seen leaves this completely skeletonized in nature before. I suspect this was done by an insect, maybe larvae? Beautiful,yes?

Thurston Lava Tube in Volcanoes National Park

 

The walk to the Thurston lava Tube (named for the man who discovered it) goes through a rainforest, and it was definitely raining when we visited. Those white spots in the picture are rain drops (clumps?). The mouth of the lava tube was beautifully adorned with ferns growing naturally. The tube was huge-about 12 feet tall and wide. I don't know how long it was, but long enough to have a curve in it and require lights. There was another stretch you could go in, but it required a flash light. It was amazing to think of a river of lava flowing through this tube. There are any number of these traveling from the crater to the ocean. As lava leaves an eruption it travels in channels and can form an actual tube as the lava to the outside hardens.
A pretty good video of a walk thru the tube can be seen here

Bamboo Orchid

 

This bamboo orchid is the only native orchid I saw in Hawaii. The only other orchids I saw were Cattelyas and Dendrobiums that had been attached to trees. I also saw bromeleads treated in this manner. There were quite a few of these bamboo orchids blooming on the trail up to the caldera. The sign pointed out that no trees were growing this close to the caldera because the ground was just too hot to allow deep tree roots.There were lots of grasses and other small shrubby things, just no trees.

Uluhe Fern

 

This fern will grow in sun or shade, but it's most interesting characteristic is its bifurcating branching. Each frond splits into two more fronds and each of these develop two more fronds. In this way the fern is able to crawl almost everywhere, including climbing trees. It is important in controlling erosion as it can grow on vertical hillsides. It is reported to be a hiker's nightmare, with its vine-like growth and prickly stems. Additionally it can reach 10 feet in height, so be advised: this plants may be worse than doghobble as far as getting through it.

Henna Tattoos

While we were stuck in Mobile last weekend we did go to Bel-Air Mall and I found out I really was not getting out enough. There were several stalls in the mall that had stuff I had never seen in a mall before. One was offering these Henna tattoos. Technically these are not really tattoos but skin decorations and are properly called mehndi. The pigment is put on top of the skin instead of under the skin and is not permanent. It can last from 2 weeks to 2 months. This type of skin decoration is usually done on the palms and feet and originated in India where it is used in the marriage ceremony. The pigment is made from plant material. In recent years sometimes synthetic dye is added to the henna paste to give a black color in contrast to the reddish brown of henna.It can cause a severe allergic reaction that may result in death.
Other stalls were offering teeth whitening and back massage (10 minutes for $12). There was a stall selling what appeared to be African carved pieces. they may have been made in China. I am not knowledgeable enough to know, but they were cute. So maybe they were not authentic.
This sand sculpture was a mall decoration and I liked it.