The Hawaiian Islands sit in about the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a long way from anywhere else in the world. In fact, Hawaii’s closest continental neighbor is almost 2,500 miles away. For any life to grow on the tops of these volcanic mountains, they have to have made an incredible journey just to arrive. Then there is the business of finding a way to survive. The Hawaiian Islands are of course, volcanic islands. So there is no soil initially. Timing for our new plant is everything. They will need to arrive to the islands after there has been some erosion to help break up the lava a bit. So plant seeds that arrive on the island and fall in hot lava are obviously doomed. The Hawaiian Islands that are tall enough will catch the trade winds and force the water out of the atmosphere, as clouds form and have to rise over the mountain top. That means one part side of the mountain is wet and the other side is arid, almost desert like. That is why most of the resorts are located on one side of each island. They are on the dry side, so it is almost always sunny, a tourist heaven. So our little seed needs to drop on the wet side of the island, or be happy in arid conditions. Conditions on the tops of the tallest mountains in Hawaii are cold and dry. Haleakala is very dry and inhospitable. The silver sword has made a home there, but not much else can live there There is snow on the top of Mauna Kea so that eliminates most plants thriving. So a palm tree that would thrive on the shore line and lower levels of the Big Island of Hawaii, would not survive even midway up the mountain. This is the absolute miracle of life on Hawaii. The plant had to arrive at the right time of the islands development, at the right altitude for this particular plant, with the right moisture/light combination. For plants to take hold and grow on a large land mass, that is not much of an issue. They mature several seeds and they are scattered by indigenous birds and animals or the wind. If half of them don’t make it there are still several seeds that will have a good chance of survival. For a seed to get to Hawaii, it is a whole different story. Every endemic plant had to arrive in one of three ways: it had to float in, be flown in, or fall in. Some hardy seeds might have floated onto the islands shores. They would have had to survive the salty sea and then landed in a place that they could get a foot hold on to put down roots and then have enough fresh water to sustain life and nurture the plant. This would be a long shot at the very best. Some seeds were flown in by migrating or lost birds. The seeds would have been stuck to the bird’s feathers, or deposited from the digestive tract. If the seeds came from migrating birds, the plant would have a better chance for survival. There would be a chance that more than one seed of any particular plant would be deposited. Also it the seeds were deposited by from the digestive tract, there would be a little fertilizer with the seed. That is a definite plus, although volcanic soil is very fertile. Seeds that were flown in rode on the wind. That is one heck of a long ride. All these methods of arriving at the island did happen, but as you can see, it was an incredibly slow process. When plants did arrive and survive there were very few other plants to cross pollinate with. That is why there were so many endogenous plants on Hawaii that were not found anywhere else in the world. Unfortunately, a huge number of the plants are gone forever. With the arrival of the Polynesians’ came the canoe plants. These were the plants they brought with them in the canoes. Without these canoe plants the new settlers would not have survived on the Hawaiian Islands. They also brought animals with them that the plants had not evolved with so they had no natural defense against them. As Hawaii was further settled and more and more humans came into contact with the environment, the endemic plants were stressed even more. Today there is a committed effort in the islands to maintain as many endogenous species as possible. Please be very careful when hiking in the forest, do not pick any plants that you are unsure about. Help Hawaii preserve her endangered plants. Mahalo!
