Wiliwili tree flowers

Description:

Single cluster of showy orange flowers 4-6 inches across at the end of a bare branch.

Habitat:

Suburban neighborhood on insular tropical upland plateau.

Notes:

The wiliwili tree is a summer deciduous, flowering species endemic to Hawaii. It loses its leaves at the end of spring to beginning of summer and flowers whilst devoid of foliage. It grows new leaves each autumn. This tree is about 14 years old. This is the first time it has flowered. The tree was grown from a seed found several miles away at a time when the species was under severe stress from gall wasps. Since then, the gall wasp infestation has been controlled via an introduced parasitic wasp.