Kahanu Gardens and Pi’ilanihale Heiau (IR)

Maui, Hawaii, 7 March 2015

View from bedroom balcony, looking towards North Maui.

Overgrown trees beside the road.

Following images are all from Kahanu Gardens. On the next few images we have a series of some of the plants cultivated in the garden and shot in infrared. You might think it’s bizarre to display plant identification shots in infrared but the only reason you might think that is because it is. Apart from that, no other reason at all.

If you find these plants instantly identifiable, resplendent in their natural colours, then you may have a problem. Either you’ve been eating bread contaminated with ergot and are hallucinating or some of your ancestors were snakes. Many or all snakes see in the infrared zone as a way of identifying prey. So perhaps these images may bring out your inner serpentes. And then if you know people who you suspect may be snakes you could always just ask them “Do you see things that glow in the dark?”. Particularly if you live in a country area away from street signs.

Kalo.

Here we have Kalo, called taro in most of the rest of Polynesia. It was such an important staple that Hawaiians were said by legend to be descended from the kalo plant. This is a particularly good photograph of a kalo sign, not so much the plants which are mainly out of focus. So this image may help you to recognise another Kalo sign should you stumble across one. Of course you could always just read it, but maybe that would be cheating.

Uala, a staple crop favoured in historic times, easy to grow even in dry locations. (Mind you, if you clicked on the image you could read that too).

I think that’s Ki in the left foreground.

The tree in the left foreground is Noni.

Noni is one of the most widely used medicinal plants in Polynesia. Its fruits are said to have a pungent odour like limberger cheese when overripe.

Ki.

Ki leaves are mainly used in the preparation, transportation and storage of food. However, they have many other uses including thatching, lei-making and rain capes. Ki is also said to have supernatural powers for protection and success.