Weird & Wonderful Flowers
Koki’o
This is an extremely rare tree, endemic
to Hawaii. It was discovered in 1860, at
which time only three specimens could
be found. The tree proved difficult to
propagate, and by 1950, after the last
seedling died, it was deemed extinct. In
1970 a sole survivor was found, which
was sadly destroyed in a fire in 1978.
Luckily one of the branches of that last
remaining tree was saved, and grafted
into 23 trees that exist today, all of which
are situated in various places in Hawaii.
The Kokai is a small tree that grows to
about 10-11 meters high. Their most
striking feature has to be the hundreds
of bright red flowers that mature trees
produce annually. Sadly that is a rarity
which few will be privileged to see.
22
Bloom | Spring 2018
Kokai cookei