“Native Hawaiian Plants: How to Grow, Cultivate and Enjoy 25 Popular Plants”
by Kerin E. Lilleeng
Mutual Publishing, $14.95
Island gardeners and conservationists will dig this handy new guide to Hawaii’s indigenous and endemic plants by Kerin E. Lilleeng, a leading propagation specialist who learned her craft at the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai and the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i. A condensed version of her 440-page, large-format “Growing Hawai‘i’s Native Plants,” its slick, wipe-clean cover, 150 pages and 6-by-9-inch size are perfect to take along to nurseries, plant sales, on nature walks or while gardening. Covered are seed collection, propagation, cultivation and pest control methods for 25 plants. They range from flowering ground covers, such as aeae, ilima and nehe, to trees, such as hala, koa and kou, loulu and wiliwili. It’s exciting to see photos of aloalo (endemic hibiscus) flowering red, yellow, fuchsia and orange as well as white. Sadly absent is naupaka, although pohinahina, a similar beach shrub, is included. It’s also a valuable reference for restoring diversity in the wild, including the habitats of the birds who brought 74.8 percent of Hawaii’s endemic flora. The title’s “enjoy” applies to the book’s beautiful color photos as well as the real-life plants it encourages us to appreciate and grow.
“Hawai‘i’s White Tern: Manu-o-Ku, an Urban Seabird”
by Susan Scott
University of Hawai‘i Press, $16.99
Hawaii’s indigenous, ghost-white terns are also called love terns because they nest in pairs, snuggle and groom, and fairy terns for their diaphanous-looking wings and enormous coal-black eyes, which look even bigger because — who knew? — they’re outlined by black feathers, as Susan Scott informs us in her brief but comprehensive new book. It’s filled with beautiful, close-up photos of the little birds which patiently feed beakloads of fish to their chicks, after flying as far as 120 miles out to sea. That’s why traditional Hawaiian sailors looking for land follow terns with fish in their beaks, Hokulea navigator Nainoa Thompson tells Scott, who has written a marine-life column for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for 15 years. The terns are also urbanites: The City of Honolulu is the only place they dwell in the main Hawaiian isles. Scott describes how Honolulans have protected the birds, who lay and incubate their eggs on high tree branches and balconies: They don’t build nests. They’re cute, but plenty tough.
