ʻŌhiʻa Lehua, Embroidery, Ornament by Claudia Schonbrod
- ʻōhia tree: One of the native trees still thriving in this area. It is the most common native endemic tree found in the state of Hawaiʻi, meaning it is found here and nowhere else in the world. The ʻōhiʻa is a pioneer species on new lava flows and has adapted to grow directly in lava rock. Its seeds blow in the wind and settle in cracks in the ground. Hawaiians utilize the hardy tree for building houses, canoes, spears, while the flowers are used in lei and sung about in chant and hula. Flowers are considered sacred to the goddess of lava and volcanic eruptions, Pele.
- lehua: The flower of the ʻōhiʻa tree (Metrosideros macropus, M. collina subsp. polymorpha); also the tree itself. The lehua is the flower of the island of Hawaiʻi, as designated in 1923 by the Territorial legislature; it is famous in song and tale.
