Found this beauty along the roadside at the begining of the lava fields...
ID please.
There were several bushes like this
I can't find anything like it in my book, the leaves have me stumped.
Hi Jenn, it is Maiapilo, the Hawaiian Caper Bush, Capparis sandwichiana.
It is an endangered plant. Nice photos!
Aloha, Dave
Oh my, that is a really beautiful bloom!
... another gorgeous plant I must now go google to read about! Thanks for sharing that lovely photo and thanks Dave for the identification!
What a great plant: http://kahagardens.com/gardens/shrubs/maiapilo/info.htm
http://www.hear.org/starr/plants/images/species/?q=capparis+sandwichiana
http://nativehawaiianflora.com/pages/l-n/maiapilo.html
I also found it in PF but no information or photo's. I hope you will add your photo's to Plant Files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/107853/
Mahalo Dave!
I am going to have to check later in the year for a seed pod, luckily this plant was not in the reserve area which has a $1000.00 fine for taking anything, even a piece of lava!
I would be happy to add the photo to the plant files, Plantlady. I will have to look for the instructions.
This looks very much like a bush/hedge we found in Bali that they called "Cat's Whiskers" . The timing here is extremely coincidental, Jenny. How long have you lived in Kihei? What do you guys think,,,same plant?
Yokwe,
Shari
Yokwe Shari,
The plant that you saw in Bali is Ortosiphon stamineus.
Bignonia
Thanks Bignonia, Orthosiphon does not match Jenn's plant. However, there is a similar species which is found in Micronesia, and is said to have been found in the Marshalls; Capparis cordifolia, known as "pamoko".
Rachel, is it possible that your plants have a potassium deficiency? Tropical plants in general use more potassium, than they use nitrogen. A good tropical plant macronutrient ratio is 2-1-3 / N-P-K.
Aloha, Dave
We have 10 native species of Capparis but not that one. The Cat's Whiskers in Shari's photo is the same as we have, and the same as in my photo that I took in PNG. It's Cleome gynandra, still a Capparaceae but not Capparis.
Aloha,
Lived in Kihei for six years, but was spending ten days every month here for a number of years before that. We moved the minute they lifted the month's quarantine requirement for animals. Before that all the pets had to spend 30 days (or more) in a kennel in Honolulu even if you could prove that they had been under a vets care and had all their injections, etc. Flying great danes anywhere is another story in itself!
Cleome gynandra is the Spider Flower a member of the Capparaceae, it has palmately compound leaves, with 3 to 7 leaflets. A weed in Hawai'i.
Shari's plant and Tropicbreeze's photo is Orthosiphon aristatus, syn. O. stamineus, the Cat Whiskers plant, a member of the Mint Family, Lamiaceae.
Well, I'm glad that's cleared up. Ha ha. All I know is, they are all beautiful plants.
Jenny, someday you will have to tell that story. I know just getting my cat's around the world with us is always an adventure, I can't imagine what it must be like with YOUR darlins!
Potassium...hmmm, maybe that's why so many perk up when I toss banana peels and kiwi peels in with their coffee grounds....hmmmm
Yokwe,
Shari
I'm going to have to make sure I use better photos, with leaves, when I try to identify plants. The ones in the photos have leaves very different to Cleome gynandra. Never hear cleomes called spider flowers here, that's used for grevilleas. They're far more common both in the wild and cultivated.