OTHER COLORED FOLIAGE PLANTS
In [Chapter VIII] will be found described a number of other plants with colored foliage which are not, however, shrubs.
Chapter VI
FLOWERING VINES
Vines sprawling over rocks and banks, or climbing high over walls and trees to hang out floral banners, make up one of Hawaii’s most colorful and interesting floral chapters. While some vines are ever-blooming, most have seasons when they suddenly put on a display of color or of rare beauty, that become, often, the most conspicuous sight of the town. The vines are rather easy to identify on the whole, for there are only a few which resemble each other enough to be confusing.
YELLOW ALLAMANDA
Allamanda hendersonii Bulliard
Sprawling green vines, often used as a ground cover, with big yellow flowers every day in the year, are the Allamandas. They are one of the most widely used plants in Hawaii.
There are two yellow species commonly seen, the only essential difference being size. The one with large flowers, about five inches in diameter, is Allamanda hendersonii. Its leaves are smooth on both sides. The species with smaller blossoms, about three inches in diameter, is Allamanda cathartica. It may be identified, if not in bloom, by the fact that its leaves are somewhat hairy on the under side.
The bright yellow flowers grow in terminal clusters, two or three of the buds opening at one time. The buds are pointed, those of the large A. hendersonii being quite brownish in color and looking as if they had been varnished. This brown color blotches the back of the opened flowers. Blossoms are campanulate in form, the tube spreading out into five large, thick, velvety lobes. The throat of the tube in the large flower is also streaked with brown and there are whitish spots at the base of the petals. Flowers of these vines do not last when cut, unless the stem ends have the sticky juice coagulated by holding in very hot water.
The leaves usually appear in fours, forming a cross or whorl where they join the stem. They are a pointed oval in form, thick, smooth and rather light green.
These plants are natives of Guiana and members of the Periwinkle family. There is a fine planting at Vancouver drive and Hunnewell street. ([Plate XI])
PINK ALLAMANDA
Allamanda blachetti A. De Candolle
The rose-colored member of the Allamanda group in Hawaii is not so often found as the yellow. The flowers are about the size of the large yellow and in color a deep rose, or almost maroon, with the throat a deeper shade.
The leaves of this species, while they display the whorled growth of the yellow, are smaller and very rough and hairy on both sides.
The vine comes from Brazil. ([Plate XI])
BABY MORNING GLORY
Jacquemontia pentantha G. Don
(Convolvulus mauritanicus)
Flowers like miniature blue morning-glories, about an inch across, grow on this slender vine. It is charming because of its petite size, and for the beautiful color of the flowers. They have a lighter throat, and white stamens. The buds appear in clusters at the end of the flower stem and one or two flowers open each morning, closing in the afternoon. The leaves are slightly heart-shaped, ending in a sharp point. The stems are reddish. The Jacquemontia, which is a native of tropical America, was named after a French botanist, Victor Jacquemont. Formerly it was called Convolvulus mauritanicus. ([Plate XI])
ORANGE TRUMPET VINE. FIRECRACKER VINE. HUAPALA
Bignonia venusta Ker
One of the most spectacular events in Hawaii’s colorful floral calendar, is the blooming of the Firecracker vine. In late winter, walls of green foliage turn suddenly into a sheet of flaming orange, the masses of flowers seeming like small tongues of fire blazing over the entire vine.
The blossoms grow in end racemes. Each individual flower is a long, slender tube spreading into four or five lobes which curl back against the tube. They often form the outline of a cross, with the fourth lobe split, curiously, into two parts to make the five-part flower. The style and four stamens extend beyond the tube. When the flower begins to fade, the tube slips loose from the calyx; but it is often caught in its fall by the enlarged tip of the style, so that the flower hangs on the vine, to add its color to the mass, for a while longer.
Leaves are glossy and bright green, usually growing as three rather pointed leaflets. Like so many other vines in Hawaii, it is a native of Brazil. The Hawaiian name, “Huapala” means Sweetheart. ([Plate XI])
“MAUNA LOA”. PUA KAUHI
Canavalia microcarpa De Candolle
Anyone who has remained for long in Hawaii has seen and wondered at the Maunaloa leis, those strangely formal, almost sculptured floral bands which have scale-like, overlapping petals in the center, and are bordered on either edge by rounded projections. The flowers from which these leis are made are a typical pea blossom. Strung together and turned right and left alternately, the “banner” or large top petal is then bent back and held down by being pressed onto the surface of a narrow strip of adhesive tape stretched along the length of the lei. The “keel” of the pea flower forms the border projections.
Originally these leis were made from the Maunaloa flowers, which are botanically Dioclea altissima. But these are rarely seen nowadays and most of the Maunaloa leis are made from a closely related flower, the Canavalia microcarpa. The blossoms of this vine range in color from white, through orchid pink to lavender and even maroon. They grow in elongated clusters at the tips of the shoots. The stems of the plant are dark red, the leaves are made up of three leaflets, triangular in form, with reddish venetions. This plant is an annual, growing from large, dark roundish seeds. It is a native of Brazil and grows wild in Hawaii. ([Plate XI])
The true Maunaloa is very similar to it in general form.
PINK BIGNONIA
Pandorea jasminoides Schumann
There are several kinds of vines growing in Honolulu which have clusters of pink or orchid colored trumpet shaped flowers, often with a dark red throat. These are usually called vaguely Pink Bignonia, for they are either members of the Bignonia family or closely related. Their botanical relationships are not easily straightened out for the layman, since all are rather similar in appearance. On [Plate XI] is shown Pandorea jasminoides, a vine from Australia. Others are Bignonia jasminoides and Bignonia regina from tropical America. All are attractive with their pinkish bell-shaped flowers and fine green foliage. Pandorea jasminoides may be seen growing on a wall on the lower part of Diamond Head Road.
WOODEN ROSE
Ipomoea tuberosa Linnaeus
One of the strangest and most attractive of Hawaii’s plant novelties is the “Wooden Rose,” which looks indeed like some wonderful bit of carving, rubbed to an exquisite satiny brown finish. The “rose” however, is really the dried seed pod of a species of morning-glory, as anyone familiar with the ordinary morning-glory seed will at once recognize. The central ball holds the seeds while the enlarged, dried calyx which surrounds it, appears to be petals.
In Hawaii, the vine is a perennial, grown from seeds. Its strong shoots spread rampantly during the summer month, climbing high into trees or covering buildings and fences. The leaf is divided into seven pointed lobes. The flowers first appear in autumn. They are yellow, small, rather inconspicuous and tubular, like the small yellow morning-glory which they really are. After they fall, the calyx begins to develop until it has enlarged into what looks like an immense pointed, cream-colored bud. As this begins to dry, it opens, showing the enlarged seed case. In a few days, the “wood rose” is stiff and brown. About three months are required from the time the blossom appears until the seed pod is ready to cut. These pods may be used as a long-lived decoration; and, since the flowers grow at intervals along the shoot in the leaf axils, graceful lengths of stem with many roses can be used for flower arrangements.
The vine grows generally throughout the tropics but is sometimes called Ceylon Morning-glory. ([Plate XI])
CAT’S CLAW VINE. HUG-ME-TIGHT
Bignonia unguis-cati Linnaeus
The three-pointed, claw-like tendrils by which this vine clings closely to trees, or walls, have given it the two names by which it is commonly known. But it will be readily recognized and remembered from the cloth of gold it flings several times a year over everything it covers. Individual flowers are trumpet shaped, with five spreading lobes, about two inches across. The color is a clear, canary yellow. ([Plate XII])
The leaves are compound, the paired leaflets being pointed and narrow. The plant is a native of tropical America where it is related to some of the giant lianas that creep through the Brazilian jungle. Its most conspicuous relative in Honolulu is the Firecracker vine, Bignonia venusta, illustrated on [Plate XI].
GALPHIMIA VINE
Tristellateia australis A. Richard
This yellow flowering vine is rather rare as yet in Honolulu, but is bound to grow in popularity as its attractive flowers and leaves become known. The color of the leaves is a light yellow-green. They are opposite, smooth, thick and waxen, with a tendency to fold along the mid-rib.
The flowers appear on pendant end-shoots, in long clusters. They have five, pale, yellow petals and in the center a group of short, red stamens. Probably this vine can be most readily identified by this touch of red in the middle of the yellow blossom. It belongs to the Malpighia family and hence is a cousin of the popular Galphimia shrub. It is a native of Australasia. ([Plate XII])
GIANT POTATO VINE
Solanum wendlandii Hooker
Delicate, pale, periwinkle-blue flowers appear in large, loose, clusters in early summer and again in autumn on the Giant Potato vine. The petals of the flowers are not separate, but are connected, curving outward slightly, making the flower almost pentagonal in outline. The mid-rib of each petal is of slightly different texture and lighter color than the rest of the corolla. In the center of the flower is a group of thick stamens forming a low column.
The leaves of this vine are not all of one shape, but vary in form from a simple outline to one that is deeply lobed, with the end lobe sometimes larger than the others. The leaves are smooth in texture but have occasional prickles. ([Plate XII])
Another “Potato vine” in Hawaii is Solanum seaforthianum. It has small flowers of a rich purple-blue, about an inch across, which appear in loose clusters in summer. They are of the same pentagonal form as the larger ones and have a bright yellow center created by the stamen.
The foliage of S. seaforthianum is small; but, like the large potato vine, varies in form.
The giant vine is a native of Costa Rica while the smaller one came from Brazil. Both belong to the Solanum, or nightshade family.
A close relative is the Giant Potato Tree which has flowers of very similar form and color. See [Plate II].
PHANERA
Bauhinia corymbosa Roxburgh
The Phanera carries large, loose, corymbose clusters of small pale, pinkish flowers, during the summer months. The flowers are about an inch across and have five delicately fluted white petals. These may be flushed with pink. Several long bright red stamens project from the center and give the flower cluster a pinkish effect.
The leaves seem to be paired, but are really deeply lobed, their outer edges rounded, the notch cut in deeply. The nerves are almost parallel. This peculiar leaf shows the relationship of this vine to other members of the same family, especially the Orchid tree and the St. Thomas tree. The genus was named for the twin Bauhin brothers who were herbalists in the 16th century.
The flowers are followed by long, flat, purplish-brown pods, showing this plant belongs to the legume family. Its native home is China. ([Plate XII])
SANDPAPER VINE. PURPLE WREATH
Petrea volubilis Linnaeus
One of the most exciting experiences in Hawaii is to come upon a plant of the Petrea in full bloom. The cascading racemes of lavender-blue flowers cover the plant completely, turning it into a tumbling fall of lacy blue. The calyx seems like a flower in itself, being starlike, five pointed and periwinkle blue. The true flower is a rich violet in color and looks something like a real violet growing in the center of the calyx. This true blossom falls off the plant in a day or so, leaving the calyxes to suggest a cluster of Wistaria blossoms. Each raceme is seven or eight inches long and carries fifteen to thirty flowers. The plant blooms several times during the year, at least once in spring and again in summer.
The leaves are yellowish or grey-green and very rough in feeling. They give the plant its name of Sandpaper vine. It is a native of Brazil and a member of the Verbena family. A specimen may be seen on Metcalf street, near Hunnewell. ([Plate XII])
ORCHID VINE
Stigmaphyllon littorale A. Jussieu
Clusters of delicate, yellow flowers, suggesting small yellow orchids have given the name of Orchid to the two Stigmaphyllons which grow in Hawaii. They are, however, in no way related to Orchids but belong to the Malpighia family. In recent years they have become very popular in Honolulu but cannot yet be found widespread in gardens.
Individual blossoms have five unequal petals of a crepy, satiny, texture and a clear bright yellow color. The flower illustrated in [Plate XII] is Stigmaphyllon littorale. Its flowers are smaller and more numerous than the cousin, which is Stigmaphyllon ciliatum, but the form of the two flowers is very much alike. The foliage of the two plants, however, is different for while both have strong, leathery, shining leaves, those of S. littorale are oval, while those of S. ciliatum are small, pointed, quaintly heart-shaped and as the botanist says, they are “ciliate,” that is, fringed by coarse hairs. From this is derived its specific name of ciliatum.
These two vines are natives of tropical America.
GARLIC VINE
Cydista aequinoctialis Miers
A vine with charming clusters of orchid-colored, bell-shaped flowers, radiates a most disagreeable odor of bad garlic, which gives it the inevitable name of Garlic Vine, or, since it is a species of the widespread Bignonia family, the name of garlic-scented Bignonia. The flowers appear most prolifically in autumn and spring, but a few may be found almost any time. The white-throated tube of the blossom is slightly flattened and then broadens into five lobes of a purplish-orchid color. At the bottom of the tube are yellow stamens.
The leaves are a rich, glossy green, growing in opposite pairs, so that four appear to grow from one point on the stem. A straight tendril extends from between the pairs near the end of the branch. ([Plate XII])
MEXICAN CREEPER. CHAIN OF LOVE
Antigonon leptopus Hooker and Arnott
Lace-like masses of small, bright-pink flowers clambering by curling tendrils over weeds, rocks or trees, announce the Mexican creeper. Sometimes the white variety is seen and there are also pale pink hybrids. In its native Latin America, this plant is called Cadena del Amor, or Chain of Love, since the flowers suggest a string of small pink hearts. The Mexicans have also given it other sentimental names such as Rosa de Montana, Corallita and San Miguelito.
The flower chains branch in a rather angular way giving an effect that is peculiarly picturesque. They lend themselves to flower arrangements of special charm. For this purpose the white variety is often more useful than the bright pink, since it blends better with the average interior color scheme. The only drawback is that the flowers fall rather quickly, but they are worth arranging even for a short time.
The leaves are heart-shaped with wavy margins. There are no petals, the colored portion of the flower being the calyx, with five petal-like sepals. The seeds form and remain inside the dried calyx. The plant belongs to the buckwheat family. ([Plate XII])
[Plate XIII]
FLOWERING VINES—CHAPTER VI
Identification key (1) Bleeding Heart (2) Kuhio Vine (3) Porana (4) Crimson Lake Bougainvillea (5) White Thunbergia (6) Wax Vine (7) Beaumontia (8) Blue Butterfly Pea
[Plate XIV]
GINGER BLOSSOMS—CHAPTER VII
Identification key (1) Shell Ginger (2) Yellow Ginger (3) Crepe Ginger (4) Red Ginger (5) Kahili Ginger (6) White Ginger (7) Torch Ginger
[Plate XV]
SPECIAL TROPICAL FLOWERS—CHAPTER VIII
Identification key (1) Spider Lily (2) White Bird of Paradise (3) Bird of Paradise (4) Golden Heliconia (5) Lobster Claw (6) White Anthurium (7) Red Anthurium (8) Flowering Banana (9) Spathiphyllum
[Plate XVI]
SPECIAL TROPICAL FLOWERS—CHAPTER VIII
Identification key (1) Dieffenbachia (2) Green Ti (3) Pothos (4) Red Ti (5) Caladium (6) Monstera (7) Rhoeo (8) A’pe
CUP OF GOLD
Solandra guttata Don
One of the most magnificent flowers in Hawaii is the great Cup of Gold blossom. It could be more appropriately called a golden chalice than a mere cup, for the blossom is nine inches long above its stem-like tube, and wide and curving in outline. It is the rich golden color of a ripe banana, and brownish streaks on the petals increase this suggestion. Its fragrance, however, is the deep, heady scent of ripe apricots. The huge buds, waxen in texture, when they once start to unfold, move so rapidly that the backward curving movement may be easily observed. The plant blooms in the winter and spring months. Its leaves are large and rather pointed. ([Plate XII])
There is a very similar flower which is cream-white in color, hence called the Silver Cup. This is Solandra grandiflora. These two are members of the Potato family. They are natives of Mexico and tropical America, where they are called in Spanish, Copa de Oro.
BLEEDING HEART. BAG FLOWER
Clerodendron thomsonae Balfour
The quaint little red and white flowers of this vine appear in clusters during the winter and spring months. The vine is usually rather small and is often grown in pots. The crimson portion is the true flower, while the “heart” or “bag” is the white calyx. The red flower is composed of a slender tube extending beyond the calyx and spreading into five lobes. A group of fine stamens protrudes beyond the flower. The leaves are opposite, oblong-ovate, and slightly rough to the touch.
This Clerodendron, which is a member of the Verbena family, is a native of West Africa. ([Plate XIII])
KUHIO VINE. PRINCE’S VINE
Ipomoea horsfalliae Hooker
A close covering mass of magenta-crimson flowers in autumn, winter or spring, is almost sure to be the Kuhio Vine. (The Crimson Lake Bougainvillea, though of about the same color, hangs in long swaying sprays.) The Kuhio vine, one of the morning-glories, is a native of India and is found growing widely in the tropics. It was brought to Hawaii by Prince Kuhio when he was the Territory’s delegate in Washington. For years, a large vine grew over his house at Waikiki, on that portion of the beach now known as Kuhio Park. It is natural that the plant should have been called the Prince’s vine, or Kuhio vine.
Individual flowers are shaped like a long bell with a waxy tube and a wide mouth, made up of five lobes. The leaves are a dark, rich green and divided, usually, into five parts. ([Plate XIII])
PORANA VINE
Porana paniculata Roxburgh
A mass of tiny white flowers, so small and so numerous they suggest a drift of smoke, or a light fall of snow, is the Porana vine in bloom. The flowering period is late summer and autumn. The rest of the year the plant carries its thick, grey, felt-like leaves along walls and trellises. The leaves are opposite, either heart-shaped or oval, and rather large.
Individual flowers are shaped like minute white morning-glories, the Porana being a member of this family. The tiny white blossoms appear in huge lacy panicles at the end of the branches. They can be used as cut flowers for a short period before the blossoms begin to fall, and they are popular for use in bridal bouquets in Hawaii.
The Porana is a native of India and Malaya, where it grows to a great height in the jungles. Its name is said to be derived from the native Javanese name. ([Plate XIII])
CRIMSON LAKE BOUGAINVILLEA
Bougainvillea glabra, var. Sanderiana Choisy
Long, waving sprays of bright crimson flowers are a conspicuous feature of Honolulu gardens in winter, spring, and early summer. These sprays grow on the Crimson Lake Bougainvillea, a close cousin of the purple flowering species which is so familiar in California and other temperate areas. The purple forms grow in Hawaii, also. One of them, Bougainvillea spectabilis, is a mass of purple in the spring; its smaller, ever-blooming form is the variety parviflora. This same group includes, also, the orange and tawny-hued form, which is B. spectabilis, variety lateritia.
Flower shades of all these plants vary considerably, the purple hues ranging through lavender and pink, while the entire color range in golden tones appears in the lateritia, varying from a golden buff through rich terra cotta red, to orange and almost scarlet. All are practically alike in form. The brilliant color is not due to the true flower but to modified leaves or bracts, three of which enclose the true flowers. The latter are small, tubular and pale yellow. The leaves of the plant are small, rather triangular in shape, with wavy margins.
The stems of Crimson Lake have large thorns. The plant climbs strongly during the summer months, then in winter, its clusters of flowers appear at the end of its branches. ([Plate XIII])
The orange or terracotta-colored variety makes a gorgeous mass of flaming color in the winter season while the purples add their exotic hue to the kaleidoscope. The grounds of St. Louis College make a feature of purple and red Bougainvillea, while Punahou School has a fine plant of the orange.
Bougainvilleas are natives of Brazil. They were named for de Bougainville, a French navigator who lived from 1729 to 1811. The plant belongs to the four o’clock family.
WHITE THUNBERGIA
Thunbergia grandiflora Roxburgh Var. alba.
One of the most conspicuous flowers in Hawaii carries starry white flowers about four inches across against its green wall of leaves, or dramatically drops these flowers in waving streamers sometimes two or three feet long.
Rows of buds develop at the branch ends and the flowers begin to open at the top. As they open, the branch grows also until it nearly doubles its first length.
The individual flowers are funnel-shaped with a pale yellow throat, the tube broadening to five lobes. Leaves are roughly oval, or shaped like an angular heart, and are quite rough to the touch. Because of the dramatic appearance of the long white streamers, the plant has become very popular in Honolulu in recent years. It is a native of India, a member of the Acanthus family. ([Plate XIII])
The blue flowering species, Thunbergia laurifolia was established much earlier than the white variety. The latter however has outstripped the former in popularity. The blue Thunbergia does not trail its flowers so conspicuously as does the white and has leaves which suggest the laurel, giving the specific name, laurifolia to the plant. It is sometimes called Blue Sky Flower.
WAX VINE
Hoya carnosa R. Brown
Noticeable for its thick, shining, oval leaves is the Wax Vine. Hidden among the leaves are the clusters of fragrant, waxy, white flowers. They grow in umbels, the flower stems radiating from a single point on the main stem. The small blossoms are shaped like creamy-white stars, and each flower contains a smaller star in its center. This is white against a pink flush at the base of the petals. In another variety, the flower is brownish. They give off a strong fragrance, especially in the evening. ([Plate XIII])
BEAUMONTIA VINE. NEPAL TRUMPET FLOWER
Beaumontia grandiflora Wallich
Immense clusters of large, striking, white flowers seen on a strong rampant vine, mean that the Beaumontia is in bloom. The season is winter and spring. The flowers are about six inches across, papery in texture and a dead white in color, except for a pink flush on the back, and pale green in the center. They are cup shaped, with five wavy lobes. In the center of the flower rise the five stamens, white and pale green in color and joined at the tip into a point. The flower has a delicate fragrance, matching its fragile appearance. If cut early in the morning and plunged deeply into water for awhile, it will be successful as a cut flower. The blossoms are often used in wedding bouquets in Hawaii.
The vine grows to a large size with long, large leaves prominently veined and a shining bright green in color. The plant is a native of tropical Asia. It is a member of the Periwinkle family. ([Plate XIII])
BLUE BUTTERFLY PEA
Clitoria ternatea Linnaeus
Blossoms of a true cerulean blue are exceedingly rare in the flower world, but those of the Butterfly Pea are of this hue. Though small and scattered on the vine, these little flowers are delightful for their gorgeous color and unusual shape. As members of the pea family, they are shaped like a modified pea blossom, the “banner” or large back petal being oval, the wings very small. The banner usually has a white mark on the base. Sometimes the flowers occur double and there is also a white variety.
The foliage is compound, the leaflets being rounded. The plant, which is an annual in colder climates, grows rather thickly. The dried pea-like pods which follow the flowers hang on the vine a long time. The seeds grow easily.
The plant gets its name from the island of Ternate in the East Indies, but is considered a cosmopolitan in the tropics. ([Plate XIII])
Chapter VII
GINGER BLOSSOMS
Leading among Hawaii’s special flowers are those of the Ginger family. They are usually exotic in form, colorful, and often intoxicatingly fragrant. The name, Ginger, covers several groups or genera, which vary considerably in appearance although the botanist can distinguish the similarities which relate them. Gingers are not far removed from the Cannas and Bananas; hence, they are reedlike plants, with fibrous stalks and blade-shaped leaves. Some are short, hardly more than a ground cover, others grow twelve or fifteen feet in height.
A native ginger, called Awapuhi by the Hawaiians, and Zingiber zerumbet, by the botanist, grows in the Hawaiian forests. Its leaves form a ground cover a foot or two high. In spring the flower heads spring up, bulbous and reddish, composed of scaly bracts out of which appear the small, inconspicuous, yellowish flowers.
The plant from whose root is made the dried ginger of gingerbread also grows in Hawaii. It is called Chinese Ginger or Zingiber officinalis. From its light-skinned rhizome is made the Chinese candied and preserved ginger, and bits of the fresh root, or the young shoot, often add piquancy to Chinese cooking.
SHELL GINGER. PINK PORCELAIN GINGER
Alpinia nutans Roxburgh
Like a strand of closely strung shells, the buds of the Shell Ginger droop gracefully from the ends of the stalks. Each bud is thin and porcelain-like, white, pointed and tipped with bright pink. These shell-like buds open, a few at a time, and the flower pushes out. It has thin, white petals while a larger, ruffled portion is yellow, marked with red vein-like lines. One of the stamens also has a petal-like development. The fruit is a yellow ball.
The plant is made up of luxuriant stalks of long-bladed leaves which grow five to twelve feet high. It is a native of the East Indies. ([Plate XIV])
Another ginger of this genus, Alpinia mutica, is conspicuous in Hawaii not so much for its flowers, which are also yellow and white, as for its bright, orange-colored fruit—like round balls. These remain on the plant a long time and make good cut decorations.
YELLOW GINGER
Hedychium flavum Roxburgh
The Yellow Ginger has flowers like slender moths of pale, creamy, yellow. They rise at the end of narrow tubes above a green head composed of scaly bracts. One blossom emerges from behind each scale and the buds of those above it peep out like yellow quills. The flower has three petals, two paired and wing-like, the third large and looking like a second pair of wings, folded together. There are three slender sepals and a long filament of deeper color, holding the pistil and stamen. Yellow Ginger blossoms have a delicate fragrance, delightful when perfectly fresh, a little rank when the least bit wilted. Leis made before the buds open, have the smooth quality of old ivory carvings.
The plant has characteristic canes of long leaves which grow five to eight feet. It prefers cool locations, growing wild along the Nuuanu Pali road. Yellow Ginger is a native of India. ([Plate XIV])
CREPE GINGER. COSTUS
Costus speciosus Smith
(Costus spicatus[2])
Ruffled and fringed white flowers of odd form emerge, two or three at a time, from behind the scales of the large, brownish-red bracts of the costus. These form a dark head, often so large as to suggest a pineapple. The white flowers have a curious structure. The three, true petals are white and rather inconspicuous behind a large, crepy, white portion which seems to be the petal but is really a greatly modified stamen, called a staminoidium. This rolls into a bell form, with fringed and fluted edges and a pale yellow throat. A second modified stamen carries the anthers and has a yellow tip, making it appear like the usual center of a flower. The stems of this plant have a tendency to curve spirally. The leaves are not so long and blade-like as in other gingers and are arranged spirally on the stem. The plant is a native of the East Indies. ([Plate XIV])
RED GINGER. OSTRICH PLUME GINGER
Alpinia purpurata (Vieillard) Schumann
Long rosy red heads among the green leaves are sufficiently suggestive of ostrich plumes to justify this name for the Red Flowering Ginger. The head is made up of large, thin, petal-like bracts and is the conspicuous portion. The true flowers are small and whitish and appear occasionally from behind the bracts. A curious characteristic of this plant is that adventitious plantlets form in the head. These grow easily when planted.
Red Ginger is a native of Malaya. ([Plate XIV])
KAHILI GINGER
Hedychium gardnerianum Roscoe
The local name for this ginger is derived from the kahili, an item that was part of the regalia of early Hawaiian chieftains. A kahili was made from a pole or wand, near the top of which, and at right angles to it, were affixed long wing or tail feathers from certain large birds, forming a cylindrical head. This was carried, like a banner, wherever the chief went, to announce his rank and presence.
The blossoming head of the Ginger called after the kahili shows an obvious resemblance. The small yellow flowers on long, stem-like tubes form a cylinder around the top of the stalk, while the resemblance to feathers is enhanced by long, red, filaments which are very striking against the yellow of the petals. Individual flowers have the general form of the Yellow Ginger, but are much smaller and their color is not creamy, but bright yellow. The flower stalks may be six feet long and rise above the rest of the plant. This species is native to the lower Himalayan region. ([Plate XIV])
WHITE GINGER. GINGER LILY
Hedychium coronarium Koenig
Most romantic of all the Gingers, because of its white, etherial delicacy and enchanting fragrance, the White Ginger blossom is larger and fuller than the yellow, but has the same moth-like form. The petals, however, hold a shimmering, almost crystalline moon-whiteness which seems unearthly. The slender filament rises in the center like an insect antenna. The flowers are lifted in snowy clusters above the lush green of their long leaves, each flower head centered by a smooth, waxen, green bulb made up of the scale-like bracts. Behind each bract a flower bud pushes out. Just before they open these buds are strung into leis which are one of the favorites in the Islands.
The plant will grow to eight feet if the soil is moist. It is a native of tropical Asia. ([Plate XIV])
TORCH GINGER
Phaeomeria magnifica (Roscoe) Schumann
(Phaeomeria speciosa)
If the White Ginger is the most romantic of this group of plants, the Torch Ginger is the most magnificent and spectacular. The plant is a clump of tall bamboo-like stalks, fifteen feet high, carrying large leaf blades. There are two varieties red and pink, the one with red flowers having bronzy leaves, while the pink has bright green leaves. Under this clump, in spring, seeming almost like an independent plant, pushes up the large flower stalk. It grows from three to six feet tall and carries no leaves, but at the end develops the head which is one of the most showy things in the flower world.
It is a waxen cone made up of innumerable bracts, pink or red, around which is a frill-like involucre of the same colors. The head is most attractive before the small, inconspicuous flowers begin to appear from behind the bracts, making them rather ragged. The general form of the flower head suggests a formalized torch. The flowers lend themselves to arrangements that can be almost monumental.
Torch ginger is a native of the Netherlands East Indies. ([Plate XIV])
Chapter VIII
SPECIAL TROPICAL FLOWERS
Many plants grow out of doors in Hawaii which are only seen in greenhouses in cooler climates. These include Orchids, which often make purple cascades from baskets hanging on trees, and other kinds which grow in the ground. In Hawaii, however, as in other places, the finer collections of Orchids are grown in greenhouses. This is not for warmth, since the walls of these houses are partly of wire screening, but to protect the plants from rain, wind and insects. The best plants of the island Orchid collections are usually displayed twice a year, at spring and autumn shows in the Honolulu Academy of Arts, where anyone interested may view them.
Plants which appear particularly tropical and exotic are those with large, lush, leaves and strange colorful flowers. Such plants do not require growing conditions any more tropical than do other things listed in previous chapters, but they look as if they did and are here grouped together. The ones selected for description do not exhaust the list by any means, but they are, perhaps, the ones most frequently seen.
A good collection of tropical exotics grows in the greenhouse at the Foster Gardens, a city park open to the public.
SPIDER LILIES
Crinum species
In Hawaii the name of Spider Lily is given to a number of liliaceous plants which have similar flowers, that is, with six, thin, spidery petals and six stamens. By a stretch of the imagination these flowers might be thought of as giant white spiders. The botany of these lilies is much confused and the local ones have never been satisfactorily straightened out. But there are at least three groups covered by the popular name, the chief one being Crinum. Others are Hymenocallis and Pancratium. All are members of the Amaryllis family.
These plants have bulbous roots which send up a clump of long, blade-like leaves. They vary from one or two feet in length to giants four to six feet long. The flowers are usually white, although sometimes tinged with dark red, and sometimes they have red stamens and stems. Many of these flowers are very fragrant. The Spider lilies are one of the staples of a Hawaiian garden. ([Plate XV])