OHIA--LEHUA[1] is the native name for a tree which abounds in Puna, the region of the volcanic home of the goddess Pele. It has a continual growth of delicately shaded leaves. The young leaf, pink tinted, comes as the old leaf shading into gray falls from the tree. Flowers which are like beautiful red fringed balls are always found glorifying the varicolored foliage. Here honey-loving birds and bees find their best feeding-places.
The ohia forests grow abundantly and rapidly on lava even recently thrown out by the eruptions from Pele's lake of fire. The ohia roots seem
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