Red Flowering Ohia Tree Growing in Lava Field Postcard

"Red Flowering ʻōhiʻa lehua Tree Growing In Big Island Lava Field" by Catherine Sherman A red-flowering ʻōhiʻa lehua tree grows in a black lava field near the town of Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii in this photograph from February 2011. The Ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha) is the most abundant and widespread tree in the main Hawaiian Islands, and it is one of the first trees to colonize recent lava flows. It is found from sea level to around 8,500 feet (2,591 meters) in elevation. Metrosideros polymorpha, the ʻōhiʻa lehua, is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaiʻi. It is a member of the diverse Metrosideros genus, which are widespread over the southwest Pacific. It is the state tree of Hawai‘i The flowers have numerous brush-like stamens and are clustered above the foliage. The flowers can come in a variety of colors, but the vast majority are red. The nectar-filled flowers are an important food source for the endemic Hawaiian honeycreepers (birds in the subfamily Drepanidinae). The fruits are woody capsules containing numerous tiny seeds. The leaves are opposite, leathery, dark green, and oval to egg-shaped. With age, the bark becomes silver gray and shredding. In some areas, the branches may have dangling, broom-like bundles of aerial roots. The lava is from an eruption of the Kīlauea volcano, which is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Kīlauea erupted nearly continuously from vents on its eastern rift zone between January 1983 and April 2018, causing major property damage, including the destruction of the towns of Kalapana and Kaimū along with the community's renowned black sand beach, in 1990. The most recent eruption lasted one week in September 2023 when multiple vents erupted inside Halemaʻumaʻu crater.