Spectacular Trees of Hawaii

Last month I was in beautiful Hawaii. Our hotel was built around a very big 134-year-old banyan tree. It was one of the coolest trees I have ever seen. It had multiple trunks coming from the ground, appearing, at first glance, to be multiple trees. But upon further examination, I saw that it was all one tree, with all its trunks leading to branches that were attached near the top. While the following photograph doesn’t come close to showing the hugeness and amazingness of this majestic tree, you should be able to see what I’m talking about. In the middle of the photograph you can see the main trunk, and then an additional trunk on the left side of the picture. Those trunks are both rooted in the ground and appear to be independent trees, but they are attached at the top. There are also several other trunks that attach near the top, but the full cluster of attached trunks was too large to capture in a single photograph.

At this point, you’re probably asking, how is this possible? Trees don’t just grow into each other! Well, this is (in very basic terms) how it works:

• The tree grows.
• The tree produces figs which germinate.
• These germinating figs (while still attached to the tree) grow roots which find their way into the ground.
• Over time, these roots grow large enough that they become trunks.
• When this happens enough times, one tree can have several trunks that are so large, they are not distinguishable from the main trunk. (Imagine how tricky this makes measuring tree age!)

Sometimes these trees spread out laterally and cover a large area. Also, if the original core tree dies, the surrounding trunks can continue living around a hollow center.

Here are some photos we took of other banyan trees with much slimmer “root-trunks” (not an official term):

And while I’m on the topic of cool trees of Hawaii, here are some other trees I couldn’t resist photographing:

I don’t know the species of this tree, but it reminded me of the banyan tree. It had a number of trunks which appeared to grow into each other at the top creating a long canopy over the sidewalk. It was very difficult to capture the full effect of the tree in a photograph, but here was my attempt:

I took a photo of this one because it looks like the perfect tree for climbing:

As does this one (although, maybe for a taller person):

This one looks like the perfect tree to sit under when you need to get out of the sun:

And my post about trees of Hawaii wouldn’t be complete without a sunrise palm tree photo:

If trees interest you, and you’d like a career that allows you to learn about trees and keep our forests healthy and sustainable, check out the following links for forestry programs in Alberta:

• Forest Science and Management (University of Alberta)
• Forest Technology (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology)
• Forestry and Harvesting Technology (Northern Lakes College)
• Forestry Mapping and Safety (Portage College)