I’ve decided to share my five top favourite exotic tropical trees and shrubs in Honolulu, and I’m going to limit myself to ones I see within walking distance of where I’m staying in Waikiki. These are parks and garden landscaping plants, none of them native to Hawaii. I have split this into two postings. Syzygium malaccense Syzygium malaccense is surprising in that it shows nothing of its flowers or fruits when you just walk by the tree. I spent a lot of time looking at this last year, but this year when I walked underneath, I was so excited to see flowers in peak bloom, with fruits starting to colour up as well. This is in a park at the west end of Waikiki. Both Kuroda Park and the nearby Ft DeRussy Park have a lot of unusual trees, some with labels. Harpullia pendula Harpullia trees are planted on several blocks perpendicular to and between the main streets of Kalakaua and Kuhio. Harpullia pendula are supposed to have 8 stamens, which these do, so I guess that’s what these are, even though they seem to have too many leaflets. The flowers on mostly female trees have undeveloped stamens, with some hermaphrodite flowers, and on male trees, some of the flowers are also hermaphrodite, so they often have a few fruits. There are so many trees here with pinnately compound leaves that I amazed myself by identifying some of these right away as this genus, even when they were male trees with no fruits. The flower closeup isn't all that in-focus, but it shows a functional female flower with undeveloped stamens toward the upper left, male flowers, and one that seems to be both. Hoya Well, a liana, not a shrub. I found two Hoya that I’ve never seen before – I’ve only ever seen the Hoya carnosa that people grow as houseplants, and I’ve never seen any growing in a garden. These are around the driveway area of a condo building that I pass on the way to the zoo. I think the white one is Hoya bicarinata, as that’s listed on a U. of Hawaii at Manoa page, and the other is an Eriostemma type of hoya, I think Hoya ariadna, or possibly Hoya 'Ruthie', an ariadna hybrid.
