Help with plants

[Mitzi M]

There are a lot of great Hawai'i plant books out there. In Hilo you'll find some at Basically Books (Bayfront) and Borders. Some good ones for quick plant ID are Trees of Hawai'i- Angela Kepler; Hawaiian Forest Plants- Mark Merlin; and Trailside Plants of Hawai'i's National Parks- Charles Lamoureux. Some of the worst weeds you may find in Puna are: Strawberry Guava, Guava, Octopus Tree, Chinese Banyan, Albizia, Faya, Glorybush, Lantana, and Christmasberry.(Maybe other folks will add to this list?) Some plants definitely worth keeping are the natives: Ohia, Lama, tree ferns, other native ferns, and any other natives you are lucky enough to find. Right now the Ohias are blooming so hopefully when you visit, you'll be able to tell if there are any unusual colored or yellow flowered ones on your property. They're not so common, so if you find them they're worth keeping and protecting as you build. If you're using a contractor, I'd tell them to use smaller equipment to clear (like a D4 instead of a D9) I would also cordon off an area at least the width of the crown of the trees you want to save with snow fence to prevent root damage from heavy equipment. If you find the native uluhe fern (a 5-lobed, dense vining fern) you will probably want to clear some of it as it is very hard to trudge through. However, it is a wonderful soil builder and here we need all of that we can get. You might consider leaving some patches around the trees you want to save.
For more info and photos of native and alien plants check out these websites from UH and the dept of forestry and wildlife:
http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/hortwe...eslist.htm
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/natives.htm
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/cw_...aliens.htm

And good for you, that you are planning to learn about and preserve what is native on your land! I bet you'll have fun.

Aloha,
Mitzi