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Our Plant Species

 

 

 

 

The Bounty of The Farm

 

 

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Sensitive Mimosa

Family Name: Fabaceae

Scientific Name: Mimosa pudica var. unijuga

Hawaiian Name: Pua hilahila

Introduced plant, naturalized ornamental, pan-tropical weed
 
Sensitive Mimosa is a short herbaceous subshrub that grows in our coffee fields. It is easily recognized by its' pink globular flower though the best part about this plant is its leaves. The compound leaves, which make it an easily identifiable member of the legume family, have an unusually quick response time to touch. This is a defense mechanism the plant evolved to protect its chlorophyll as well as its leaves from grazing herbivores. The response time is due to these specialized cells located at the leaflets base that release water when anything encounters the leaves. This amazing reaction is how the plant got its name. 
 
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Monstera 

Family Name: Araceae

Scientific Name: Monstera deliciosa

Hawaiian Name: Monstera

Introduced ornamental

The monstera is a staple here in Hawaii. If you can't find the plant, one can easily find the prints of aesthetic leaves around the island on clothes or bags and such. Easily recognized by its giant leaves with holes (referred to as fenestrated leaves in botanical terms), the plant is a spreading or climbing ornamental from central America. The flower is a giant corncob-looking anthuridium, which is common to the araceae family. On our farm the monstera is located just below the lanai and provides a beautiful border to our panoramic view of the ocean.
 
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Bombax

Family Name: Malvaceae

Scientific Name: Bombax ceiba

Hawaiian Name: Kapok

Introduced ornamental

Bombax tree is identified by its large fuschia-pink inflorescence that gives the tree the common name of red silk cotton tree. The flowers bloom between March and April. In April and May the fruit can be found littering the base of the tree which the winds picks up to spread the silky cotton around the island. The tree attracts only two pollinators which are birds (for daytime pollination) and bats (which are nighttime pollinators). Our bombax tree is located on our citrus trail where we grow lemons, oranges, grapefruits and tangerines. The bright pink color of the flowers provides a nice variety of color in our landscape as it is easily viewed and enjoyed by on-lookers from the pool area. 

 

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Mist Flowers (aka stickers from field)

Family Name: Asteraceae

Scientific Name: Ageratina riparia

Hawaiian Name:Pamekani, Pamakani haole

Recent alien introduction (after 1778)

The mist flower is a weedy herbaceous plant that grows in our coffee fields. It can get up to 4 feet tall which makes picking coffee a bit difficult. Everyone on the farm just calls these guys 'stickers' due to the seeds of the plant that stick to everybody's clothes. Because this plant is in the Aster family, every flower head has multiple true flowers on it. These are called disk and ray flowers. The ray flowers are the ones with petals and the disk flowers are in the middle of the flower. Disk flowers in a sunflower get used as sunflower seeds. Once the flower is done blooming the ray flowers fall off and leave the disk flowers to get stuck on anyone in the field crew. 

 
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Rainbow Heliconia

Family Name: Heliconiaceae

Scientific Name: Heliconia wagneriana

Hawaiian Name: Hanging lobster claw

Introduced landscape plant

Heliconia's colorful flowers look like lobster claws and are a beautiful, colorful addition to any landscape. They look very similar to a bird of paradise flower, which we also have on the property. Heliconias bloom from January to September and are native to Belize and Colombia. Our Heliconia is located by our lower parking lot across from our employee office. It's such a joy to watch the inflorescence open up a little more every day. The red and yellow part of the 'flower' is actually a highly modified leaf, similar to sepals or bracts, that home and protect the true flowers. 

 

 

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