I could put down roots in Hawaii

Ufa-halomtano heritiera longipetiolata (from Guam)

We went to Hawaii for the weekend. Doesn't that sound cool? It was a quick trip over President's Day weekend. We climbed Diamond Head, visited Pearl Harbor, did the Dole Plantation, visited Wiamea Valley Botanical Park and spent time on a beach and in the ocean every day.

From all the gardens and forests we saw, one thing that struck me was the roots of plants. Roughly speaking, there are two seasons: November through April the climate is humid, with temperatures of about 81°F (and lows of 65°F). More rain falls during the cooler season -- June through October. It's drier with daily high temperatures of about 84°F (and lows of 70°F). When your weather is this nice, you can expose your roots.

With average temperatures like that, I think I could put down roots there.


Don't know all the names of the trees shown here. But what I do not know, Christopher of Outside Clyde probably does.

I'll get some posts up with prettier pictures than of roots. But they intrigued me. We don't see a lot of above ground tree roots here in Buffalo, unless we've done something mean to them like trapped them in a hellstrip.

In the gardens at Pearl Harbor. In the background, that's the USS Bowfin, a submarine you can tour.

A banyan tree. They're actually fig trees, known for their aerial prop roots. The prop roots form columns over time, indistinguishable from the main trunk. The main trunk can even die leaving behind the columns which keep growing outward.

Close up of banyan aerial prop roots.

A male Hala Tree.

A male Hala Tree.

These roots are mainly from a parasite plant growing up a tree trunk.