Hawai'ian Tree Fern-Ohia Forest
Near Pu'u Puai on the Chain of Craters Road, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, USA
March 11, 2011
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© 2012 G. Donald Bain, All Rights Reserved.
Caption
The summit ridge of Kilauea, the most active volcano in Hawaii, is for the most part barren, either sparsely vegetated or completely bare recent lava. But here and there there are patches of older rock, on which soil has formed. The mild temperatures and abundant rainfall rapidly produce a beautiful forest.The most distinctive forest type is almost limited to two species, the tree fern growing 15-20 feet high, and ohia trees rising above to 30 or 40 feet. As this forest ages other species appear and the appearance of the forest changes.
This particular patch of tree fern-ohia forest is noted by every traveller to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, coming as is does between barren stretches on the Chain of Craters Road. The Thurston Lava Tube and several caldera overlook points are nearby in this same forest.
More panoramas of Kilauea Iki at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park can be found in the Big Island of Hawaii region on my website.
Location
Lat: 19° 24' 30.31" N
Long: 156° 15' 55.33" W
Elevation: 3736 feet (1138 meters)
Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.
Equipment
Photographed with a Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR with a 15mm Canon fisheye lens, on a Nodal Ninja VR mount, Really Right Stuff ballhead, and Gitzo carbon-fiber tripod. Stitched with PTGui Pro 9 on a Macintosh Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, retouched with Photoshop CS3.
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