Kolokolo kuahiwi
Lysimachia hillebrandii
A Sprawling shrub with dark green, oval leaves that have a pointed apex. New leaves tend to cluster toward the top of the stems, then later spacing out as the plant grows. The new braches as well as the veins on leaves are pinkish-red, then as the branch becomes older it will eventually turn woody. The flowers of this plant are most striking. They hang facing downward on stems that extend out past the leaves. Each flower is about 3/4″ in diameter and is light maroon in color with dark maroon veins on each petal. I’ve seen individual branches with over twenty flowers on them and they look awesome! The flowers will stay on the plant and don’t lose there beauty for about a week, sometimes even longer! Although this is a general description of this plant, don’t be surprised if you see something different when hiking, they are highly variable, especially in leaf shape, leaf orientation and size, pretty much the only thing static are its flowers. There are also a couple of other native Lysimachia that resemble this species found in the same type of habitat so you really have to know your stuff in order to distinguish them from one another.
He lāʻau kolo nō kēia. He mau lau oloolo e ʻoi ma ka wēlau. ʻO ka mea maʻamau, hui nā lau ma ka wēlau o ka lālā. ʻAno ʻulaʻula nā liko ma nā lālā ʻōpiopio. He mau pua ʻulaʻula e luhe iho mai nā lālā. Ma kahi paha o iwakālua pua ma kekahi lālā hoʻokahi. Hoʻokahi pule a ʻoi aʻe paha o ka mae ʻole ʻana o kēia mau pua kolokolo kuahiwi. ʻOkoʻa loa naʻe nā ʻano kolokolo kuahiwi i ʻike ʻia ma ka piʻi mauna ʻana. Hoʻokahi wale nō mea like, ʻo ia nō nā pua.
This plant is not commonly seen but is usually found in open areas of mesic to wet forests on the islands of Kaua’i, O’ahu, Molokai, Lana’i and Maui.
ʻAʻole nō laha loa ke kolokolo kuahiwi i kēia mau lā. ʻO ka mea maʻamau naʻe, ʻike ʻia ke kolokolo kuahiwi i ka wao maʻukele ma nā mokupuni ʻo Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, me Maui.
The longevity and unmatched beauty of the flowers make this an ideal plant for lei making.
He mau pua nani loa no nā lei.
If you are fortunate enough to have one of these plants for yourself they look great just about anywhere. I suggest planting them in front of some sort of dark backdrop like a rock wall, green ti hedge, or hapu’u ferns so that the flowers really stand out when blooming. These plants prefer full sun to partial shade with daily watering in well drained soil. Few pests tend to bother this plant although I have seen scale and aphids on them from time to time. These bugs can be controlled either by applying a systemic pesticide like Orthene or the more technical way of smooshing them with your fingers. Often ants bring the scales and aphids to the plants to harvest a sugary substance that is consumed for food, so once you smoosh the bugs, look around for the ants and get rid of them or else they will just bring back more scales and aphids and turn you into a bug smooshing machine.
Ke loaʻa ke kolokolo kuahiwi, nani ke kanu ʻana ma kahi o nā pōhaku, ke kī, a ma kahi hoʻi o nā hāpuʻu. E aho e kanu i kahi e pā nui ai ka lā, a mamalu iki paha. A, e aho e hāinu i kēlā me kēia lā i ka lepo ʻākeke. ʻAʻole nō nui nā mū e pilikia ai ke kolokolo kuahiwi. I kekahi wā, pilikia i ka ʻeleao. ʻO ka mea maʻamau, halihali ʻia nā ʻeleao e nā nonanona, no laila, inā ʻike ʻia nā nonanona, e aho e pepehi.
The way kolokolo kuahiwi grows is very similar to that of another more common coastal native plant called pohinahina (Vitex rotundifolia), both are sprawling shrubs. But what you may not know is that another name for pohinahina is kolokolo kahakai. Kolokolo means to crawl, which is how the plants grow, they crawl along the ground. The second words are locality descriptors, kahakai meaning beach and kuahiwi meaning mountain.
Kohu like ke ʻano e ulu ai ke kolokolo kuahiwi me ka pōhinahina. ʻO kekahi huaʻōlelo ʻē aʻe no ka pōhinahina, ʻo ia hoʻi ke kolokolo kahakai.