‘Ohi’a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha)

‘Ohi’a lehua is one of the true native trees of Hawaii.

  Much of the floral splendor in Hawaii has been brought to the islands since the arrival of Captain Cook in the 1800’s. ‘Ohi’a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) is one of the true native trees of Hawaii. Belonging to the Myrtle plant family, its can grow from a few feet to 100 feet tall.

The red flower variety of ‘Ohi’a lehua trees, whose blossoms resemble an erupting volcano, grow prolifically on the slopes of the Big Island’s active volcano, Kilauea. The fiery life cycle of death and resurrection of lehua gives an image of its strength and power: the tree grows up and thrives on blackened lava rock surrounding the volcano, is burned to ash by molten lava flows when the volcano erupts, and then sprouts seedlings- one of the first life forms to grow out of the blackened lava after the devastation.

Blossoming ‘Ohi’a lehua trees cover the blackened burned landscape that stretches as far as the eye can see, on the road to Volcano National Park. The photo you see here shows ‘Ohi’a lehua growing at the edge of the volcano.