I just inquired also...you mean Ohi'a Lehua Tree...I fell inlove with these red blossoms in Volcano this past June, on BI. I am trying to get a plant...don't know if it's legal to export to Mainland.

Best Regards!

Ohia Lehua is generally a tree, although I think there are some "miniture" shrub versions, too. It has red, orange or yellow fluffy flowers and greyish green leaves. Rough grey bark and is a nice "rustic" tree. A very "treeish" tree, as it were. The hardwood from it is a lovely orangish reddish wood. A bit brittle, though, so it is used for flooring and decorative stuff instead of things like axe handles. Honeybees love the flowers.

Ohias like to live upcountry at higher elevations with cooler (around here that means down to forty degrees in the winter) temperatures and afternoon mists.

To send plants to the mainland, they have to be sent bare root (no dirt, wrapped in wet newspapers) and get inspected and stamped before sending. Texas, California, Lousiana and Arizona won't allow even bare root plants.

I don't think it is illegal to send Ohias to the mainland, but I don't know if the plants would survive. They aren't real happy about being transplanted in the first place and being mailed might be too rough on them.

Ask Royal Palm Enterprises, they send plants to the mainland. His webpage is http://www.rpetropicals.com and he's a good plant person. He has a toll free number on his website, too, so you could call and ask. Just remember that Hawaii is about three hours behind the mainland West Coast and six (?) hours behind the mainland East coast.

The taxonomic name of the Ohia lehua is Metrosideros polymorpha. It grows easily from seed and is common in the Polynesias. I believe it requires a semi-tropical climate; I have seen them growing near the airport in San Francisco, but I don't think it would survive a freeze.