The Castor Bean Tree and other Hoticultural Delights

      This has been a busy week up in Holualoa Estates, which is the fancy-schmancy name the county of Hawaii has applied to my subdivision.  At the start of the week I squeezed in a swim at Kahalu'u.  I came away with a video of the White Mouith Moray, which towards the end of the brief clip gives you a good look at the buccal mucosa that gives this diurnal hunter his nom de guerre.  The white mouth is probably our most commonly seen eel.  This should provide a clue as to the marginality of the fish watching on that day.

   The highlight of that excursion was on shore, where I had the opportunity to practice my fledgling Japanese with Yasuko, and Sandra and I enjoyed a pleasant conversation with Kathleen Clark, who assured us that although we are not seeing any, there are several cleaning stations, with pairs of cleaner wrasse, in the bay.       

Castor Beans: They won't necessarily kill you!

    Following that we spent a day or two preparing to have five trees removed and then hung out while this adventure in forestry took place.  These trees had started as what I deemed attractive weeds.  Ever since he poisoned our monstera, I have been looking for ways to torment my evil neighbor.  Growing large weeds just across the property line seemed like a clever ploy.  Over time, what seemed like attractive weeds, became trees forty feet tall, that hung over our roof,  dropping copious leaves and the occasional branch on our walkways and the roof itself.  Most worrisome, the trees threatened our electrical lines.  

    It wasn't until Peter and Marla came over for their Aloha Lunch that we got an expert opinion on just
what those trees were: Castor Bean Tree, Ricinus communis.  In addition to leaves and branches, the trees also dropped innumerable seeds that indeed look like small beans.  Marla, being the friendly little scientist that she is, was quick to point out that these "castor beans" contain ricin.  If that name rings a far off bell, it may be that you recall that Walter White formulated ricin in hopes of poisoning Gus Fring. Wasn't Breaking Bad the best? 

Roadside Flowers in Holualoa

     Immediately I began formulating a plan to  put the poisonous beans to use.  Could I disguise them in a mac nut chocolate bar?  Wikipedia tells us that if you chew the beans, they will indeed release ricin, but no matter how many you chew, they won't necessarily kill you.  Fiddlesticks!

    At any rate, the trees are now gone, the roof is clean and we have almost all the poisonous seeds cleaned up.  But there were a plethora of seeds and I doubt we will get all of them.  There is a strong possibility that a child or two may be visiting in the next few months.  He or she will have to be admonished not to eat the seeds.  But this place, being the garden of Eden that it is, has plenty of other things that children should not put in their mouths.  For example,  our various snails and slugs are a vector for rat lung disease.  The parasite that causes RLD forms brain abscesses and really will kill you.  Best send the children out to play wearing mittens.

A Golden Tree on a stormy day.  Holualoa, Hi.

    Luckily, the tree guys came on a day when it wasn't raining.  It has continued to rain heavily almost every day.  On one of those rainy days, as we were driving home from the KTA, I noticed that our hillside was alive with Golden Trees.   These beautiful trees retain their blossoms for only a couple weeks. After dropping off our groceries we decided to hunt down one of these gorgeous trees.  

   The Golden Tree, Tabebuia donnell-smithii, is native to Mexico and Central America.  It is apparently common on the UH Manoa campus and we are lucky enough to have a few on our island.  Perhaps with all the rain, these trees are doing especially well this year.  

    Sandra and I found one that was growing down the street in a back yard.  It wasn't a very good look, so, it being a lazy rainy day, we decided to head up slope to the village of Holualoa, at least a thousand feet higher in elevation.  On the way into the village we found a couple Golden Trees in full bloom right beside the road. We stopped and took a few pictures.  I also nabbed a photo of the handsome flowers adjacent to our parking spot.  If anyone knows what it is I would be delighted with an identification.)  Sandra found a flower cluster from the golden tree which we took home for a better look.    

    Finally yesterday arrived, all our home improvement projects were under control and the sun was out.  From our lanai we could detect a bit of surf, so a swim at the pier seemed in order.  When we got down to Alii Drive, we saw that what was actually only a moderate swell was coming in from the

A flower cluster from the Golden Tree.

south.  Thus Kailua Bay wasn't protected and the waves were splashing over the sea wall on to the malecon.   

     As God had given me this day to go snorkeling, I wandered over tho the beach in front of the Marriott, plunged into the freezing water and headed out to Paul Allen's Reef.  The tide was low and waves were breaking right into the opening past the small jetty that protects Kamehameha's heiau.    For an instant I enjoyed a plump Christmas Wrasse as it swam by, but mostly I dealt with the rocks and waves as I made my way out into the bay. 

    Not surprisingly, there were only the expected fish, but the water wasn't especially clear and swimming through the waves provided plenty to keep me occupied.   At one point I wondered,"What the heck is a 70 year old moron doing way out here all by himself?"  and the phrase "identification is being withheld pending notification of his relatives" flitted through my mind. I did see a couple fine examples of purple meandrina cauliflower coral.  On close examination I could find nothing better in these corals than a couple Arc Eye Hawkfish. But if cauliflower corals are coming back, I'll be satisfied with the hawkfish.

A healthy cauliflower coral on the PAR

    Back on the beach I had the pleasure of the homeless men and women that have become a fixture at the base of the pier.  Others have had difficulty with this particular group of homeless people.  In a recent article in West Hawaii Today it was reported that when the Kai Opu'a canoe club resumed activities last week, they were confronted by mountains of garbage surrounding their canoes.  As if that weren't bad enough, the paddlers were harassed by a mob of the homeless demanding money and cigarettes in return for granting access to the canoes and the beach.  

   I suppose  we should feel fortunate that the homeless don't seem to have much interest in snorkeling.  As of now, we have the water all to ourselves!

jeff