'ohi'a lehua

Metrosideros polymorpha, the 'ōhi'a lehua, is an evergreen tree in the family Myrtaceae endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, where it is the most ecologically dominant native tree, occurring from sea level to about 2,500 m on every main island and on substrates ranging from fresh lava flows to mossy montane bogs. As the specific epithet polymorpha implies, the species is extraordinarily variable: depending on habitat and recognized variety it grows as a low spreading shrub, a gnarled krummholz, or a large forest tree to 25-30 m with a buttressed trunk up to 1 m in diameter. The bark is grey, fissured, and often supports a rich epiphyte community. Leaves are opposite, simple, leathery, ovate to elliptic, 2-8 cm long, with margins entire and surfaces from glabrous to densely silvery-tomentose. The inflorescences are terminal cymes of brilliant flowers — the lehua — composed mostly of long, showy stamens; flower color is typically scarlet but ranges through orange, pink, yellow, and white. Fruit is a small woody capsule releasing minute wind-borne seeds.