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.