THE ʻŌHIʻA LEHUA TREE, or Metrosideros polymorpha, is the scraggly tree that develops after a lava flow. This botanical anchor supports vegetation and animals and is part of the process that filters rain into drinking water.
ʻŌhiʻa lehua trees are being threatened by a fungus known as Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death or ROD. ROD kills a healthy tree within a few weeks and destroys 10 percent of Hawaiʻi’s ʻōhiʻa lehua population annually.
THE INSEPARABLE LOVERS
Inspired by folklore
The goddess of fire Pele strolled across her reclaimed desolate landscape, but an ankle-high scrawny tree with a red spiny blossom defied the jagged lava rock wasteland.
Her heart twinged. She fought back tears.
Wind swayed the scrawny tree’s blossoms.
Pele stomped to her Kilauea domain, trying to forget about the lover
