Mahalo to Karen Messick for sharing this pretty photo of a hau tree blossom for Aloha Friday Photos. Karen tells us that she took this photo in Ko Olina on the west side of Oahu.
The Hawaiian word hau is pronounced similar to how in English. We hope you enjoyed the play on words in the title of this article – “Hau” beautiful it is!
You might see hau trees when you visit Hawaii. They are usually found in coastal areas and tend to grow in thickets. We’ve most often seen them near streams in Hawaii.
The hau tree is a type of hibiscus as you may have noticed from the bloom in Karen’s photo. At first glance, when you see a hau tree, you might not think it is a type of a hibiscus as it’s much “beefier” than the typical hibiscus shrubs we typically see. Actually, hau trees can grow over 30 feet (approximately 9 meters) in height.
In addition to their beautiful bloom, hau trees tend to grow into interesting thickets. You would be hard pressed to try to navigate through a hau tree thicket. Their thicket habit remind me of the native laurel bushes that flourish in the beautiful Appalachian mountains where I grew up.
Happy Aloha Friday!
Sheila Beal
