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Project Noah Nature School
Leucaena leucocephala
I was amazed to spot these spherical, fuzzy flowers in a landscape so bare. This is a young haole koa plant, highly invasive in Hawaii. It's native to Southern Mexico and northern Central America. Its wood is used for firewood and the greens serve as good cattle feed.
Found on the little grass on a vast lava bed, which may be more than 50 feet thick!
The destructive 1986 eruption of Kilauea that buried the town of Kalapana in lava produced the lava bed on which these plants grow.
Sounds like a plan, gatorfellows. Actually I've been meaning to do something like that, but didn't know how to. This haole koa is one of more than a dozen invasives I've seen there. More to come on Noah!
Sad to find an invasive, but now you know what to look for and can help in the control efforts. The USDA has a website with resources - there may be a reporting of invasive sightings that you can contribute to to help the state monitor its control.. I participate in a similar Texas state group.
Thanks for the correction, C. Daehler. I'm sad to learn that this is yet another invasive species in Hawaii.
At least it is a place to start. It also had some very good general information about Acacia species. Research on what was there before the eruption and what was left at the edges to repopulate the area is a good place to start for confirmation. :) fun
Wow, I looked up Acacia koa and the photos look a lot like my spotting. It's an unusual acacia, but common to Hawaii, like you said. I think your suggestion is a perfect ID!
Here is an article about a common Acacia in Hawaii - http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_man...
I took the leaves as part of the same bush. Photo 2 - if you follow the new blossoms the stem ends with a group of new leaflets emerging from the tip. Yes there are many Acacia species, so you may have to settle for just Acacia sp. unless you can locate the most common Acacia that used to be in that area and compare it to your sample. Good luck :)
Gatorfellows, yes, this might be acacia. Do you think the leaves pictured all belong to this spotting?
Also, it looks like there are well over 100 species of Acacia, so I can't say I'll have any luck investigating, at least not in the short term!
You might want to investigate Acacia sp. They have this compound leaf structure and ofter have fuzzy blooms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia
Spotted on Jan 7, 2013
Submitted on Jan 20, 2013
