Articles tagged with: Botany
Conservation
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Conservation Pittosporum seeds eaten by rats Along with its world-class showcase of biology, evolution, geology, and astronomy, Hawaii has also gained the regrettable reputation as the endangered species capital of the world. Conservationists consider Hawaii to be at the forefront of the global...Continue Reading »
Biogeography
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Biogeography of Hawaii World map Biogeography is the study of how geography affects the biological world. Geographic features play a dominant role in shaping Hawaii’s natural world and make it a great place for biogeographic studies. The Hawaiian islands make up the most extensive archipelago on...Continue Reading »
A Natural Image
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Hawaii is one of the best known places on earth. People everywhere dream of a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to our Islands. I suspect most perceptions of Hawaii are similar to what mine was before moving here-white sand beaches, coconut trees swaying in the breeze, and aqua-blue, bath-tub warm...Continue Reading »
Evolution
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Evolution, Hawaiian Style Lava Dubautia Alpine Dubautia Hawaii is a world-class showcase of evolutionary process. In fact, in many ways it surpasses the examples from the Galapagos Islands. Hawaii’s extreme isolation coupled with its phenomenal array of life zones allowed for the small pool of...Continue Reading »
Beach Botanizing
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
I visited a splendid place today. My companions were a small group of plant lovers from the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden and Clyde Imada from Bishop Museum as chief identifier. Our destination was a remote coastal area in Kau. It wasn’t an easy journey. The path took us through dry, weed...Continue Reading »
Tour of a Plant Museum
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
I remember my first visit into a world-class museum. It was the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. I cannot recall what works of art I saw, nor even the artists. Nevertheless, I remember the great sense of anticipation I felt. I remember the immaculate polished floors, the immense scale of...Continue Reading »
The Gentleman Farmer
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Don Francisco de Paula Marin. This is only known image of Marin and is taken from an engraving showing Hawaiian chiefs meeting with European sea captains. Don Francisco de Paula Marin was a productive man. He arrived in Hawaii two hundred years ago after deserting a Spanish naval ship in the...Continue Reading »
Rock and Trees
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Joseph F. Rock I am a book nut. Sometimes I think my fascination with nature is just a highly rationalized excuse to buy books. Anything new that hits the shelves, I get it. Plus, I’m constantly on the search for the out-of-print titles that have anything to do with Hawaiiana. The ones that...Continue Reading »
Sharing Nature
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Kids need to be out in nature. They need to climb trees, crawl through the bushes, play in the dirt and mud, chase each other across the field, and explore the wild. Too often today children never experience the wonderful land around them. Too many of our island keiki rarely get the opportunity to...Continue Reading »
You Pest
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
I am the baby of six siblings. Growing up I was often referred to as a pest by my older brothers and sisters. “Mom, he’s such a pest. Do I have to take him along?!” “Quit being such a pest, Robbie.” Never lacking affection, attention or love, this pesty tag never bothered me too much. In fact,...Continue Reading »
Lumpers and Splitters
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
I like to know the names of things. Whether it’s the weed that leaves flat sticky seeds on my socks or the little worms that eat holes through my books, it drives me crazy if I don’t know their names. And though I often settle for the common name, it’s the scientific one that really catches my...Continue Reading »
Inventory of a Koa
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
Koa TreeIt is a big tree. It rises above the canopy of the kipuka with sculptured grace. Its trunk is as thick as a bus. The branches are larger than most other trees’ trunks. It is a Koa. I visit the tree often, with hundreds of visits over the years. Only after a dozen visits did I see how...
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Creative Isolation
Posted: Aug 8, 2010
This summer the Pope and I came to an understanding. If you account for a Supreme Being, he said, the Vatican doesn’t have a problem with evolutionary theory. He went further to suggest that to view “life in terms of an ‘ongoing creation’ is a scenario that makes increasing sense, scientifically...Continue Reading »
