Pukiawe

[Millard B.]

Looking for info on Hawaiian Plant - Styphelia tameiameiae aka Pukiawe
Last year my good friend who moved from West Palm Beach to Oahu 25 years ago brought inspected plant material when he flew to Florida to visit. The plant grows from sea level to 10'000 feet in elevation. It has very rough twisted bark similar to common Rosemary and small round leaves about the size of a grain of rice and 3/8" long, maximum height of 15'. This Small airlayer had minimum rootage and only lasted about two months planted in 1/4" lava. Shortly after he returned home he caught covid and died. Somewhere on Oahu there are two airlayers still on the host tree, maybe they burned in the horrible fires? I am looking for a nursery or other source that has this plant and willing to ship. It has small white or red flowers, seed is difficult to germinate. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I am going to move this thread to the "wanted to buy" forum.

This plant is also known as Hawaiian heather. It is so common that there are probably few nurseries who sell it - because people are more interested in plumeria, etc. Maybe you could contact one of the big export nurseries in Hawaiian and ask if they could source one for you?

 

[Millard B.]

Thanks in Advance. I just wrote down a dozen or so Hawaiian nurseries, haven't had time to call around yet, just found a leak in my roof, trying to pinpoint the location where it is leaking from!
I have 5 cousins near Meisenhiemer NC near Salisbury and when we visit this Thanksgiving I' going to introduce to them my best Friend who is closing on a house in Concord. I've been involved in bonsai for 44 years, my friend Phil has more natural artistic talent at 15 years than I have, he works for a sub-contractor for Lowes and travels a 100 mile radius measuring windows. Phil came down the week before Christmas and brought me an Ilex v. that was planted as a 3 gallon as a hedge in 1954 that was being removed to widen a driveway- a 5" base and 14" tall, I'm giving it a year before I start the process, he has 6 more. I'd like to introduce y'all- Phil is the kind of person that I would let have a key to my house. balfreymill@yahoo.com