Triangle Palm

As you may know, I was working in Lanai, Hawaii for the first week of November (tough gig).  The second week, I spent traveling.  Over the past two years, I've been fortunate enough to spend a total of eight weeks in Hawaii; I had visited Lanai, Maui, the Big Island and Oahu.  This trip, I made a point to spend a few days in Kauai.  Kauai is the oldest island and thus the greenest, which made it a refreshing change from the drier climate of Lanai.

While in Kauai, I went horseback riding at Silver Falls Ranch, a great place near Hanalei.  I took a private ride so my guide and I could canter and trot (though I was still a little too cagey to all-out gallop!).  Somewhat spoiled by all my Hawaii travels, I didn't feel the compulsion to stop and take photos during the ride; I wanted to just enjoy the moment, not to mention I must have THOUSANDS of pics of Hawaiian landscapes by now (and am not near finished sharing them with you all, either!).

However, I did have to stop a take a few library shots of this unusual palm: Dypsis decaryi, or triangle palm (not to be confused with triangle man). Dypsis has long fronds with leaves ascending from the main stems.  These fronds emerge from three points, forming a triangle. Native to Madagascar, the plant is popular for its odd shape.

I'm not sure I'd use this in a landscape design, though the bluish tint of the foliage and the shape is kinda fun to look at.  It is just so odd; I feel like seeing it takes you out of the moment, like seeing a mega star take on a cameo role in a movie. Botanical stunt casting, perhaps...

Strelitzia nicolai and the Japanese White Eye

The Saturday before I left town for Hawaii, I met my students at Brookside Gardens.  If you remember, Saturday the 29th was snowy, sleety, rainy and cold.  To wit, we covered some plants in the conservatory.  One of which was the giant bird of paradise, or Strelitzia nicolai.  While looking at it, we wondered what kind of pollinators would frequent it, and its relative, the regular bird of paradise, or Strelitzia reginae.  We suspected perhaps birds, due to the large, perchable flower and in the case of S. reginae, the parrot-colored flower.

While it's not certain that this bird, the Japanese White Eye, is the primary pollinator, its relationship here is pretty clear.  The bird, also known as Zosterops japonicus, is an introduced bird to Hawaii, originally brought to the islands with the good intent of using it to control populations of destructive insects.  As you can guess, this did not work out too well and now the bird is a vector for avian diseases that affect the native bird species. 

Back to the plant -- this may look familiar -- in fact the plant is very similar to traveler's palm, which I blogged about on NYPAOS.  Aloha!

Aloha!

Please excuse the delinquency of this post!  I've been traveling and have been taking TONS of pics.  I just need to organize and post them. 

I'm working in Lanai at the moment, doing some consulting work, helping a community develop strategies to be "greener" (i.e., cutting back on irrigation, using more natives, etc.).

In the meantime, I saw this rainbow, shortly after landing in Honolulu!  Aloha!