My brother texted this photo of a fruit on a crown flower bush. He was surprised because we've never seen a fruit like that on a crown flower before. Crown flower bushes were everywhere in the plantation camp where we grew up. All the leaves had holes in them with monarch butterfly eggs, crawling caterpillars and cocoons hanging from all the leaves. Nowadays, I see very little monarchs around which is sad.
We pass a few bushes on our walks now and don't see many crown flowers around. The bushes we see don't have holes or caterpillars on them which is sad.
One thing we never saw on the crown flower plants were fruits like this. Dennis said it was the size of an orange.
So I looked it up using the Lens option on Googles Photos. Google felt it was a Calotropis procera.
When I mentioned that, my sister-in-law said the flower of the procera was not the same as the crown flower we're familiar with which is actually Calotropis gigantea.
And she's right.
Here's a comparison.
They're both in the same groupings. They're both giant milkweeds actually. However, the flower of the C.gigantea is indeed what we grew up with.
We used to make leis using the crownflowers.
Here's a bush we saw recently on our walk. We saw a few holes on the leaves but no caterpillars and most of the flowers hadn't bloomed yet.
I looked up crown flowers and was shocked to see the price.
Here's a little bit of history I found on the Kakou Collective website.
"Queen Liliuokalani, known for her deep love of culture and her contributions to music and art, found a special connection with the crown flower. It's said that she favored these blossoms not just for their beauty, but for their symbolic resemblance to the royal crown. This appreciation by the Queen played a role in elevating the status of the crown flower in lei-making traditions of Hawaii.
However, it's important to note that while the Queen's fondness for the flower is a notable part of its history in Hawaii, the pua kalaunu's significance extends beyond this royal connection. It has become cherished by many across the islands for its beauty and the skill required to craft it into lei."
I saw on another website that the Calotropis procera is sold on Maui so I have no idea what fruit my brother saw. I've told Dennis to be sure to take a photo of the flower next time they're out walking so we can know for sure.
Meanwhile, friends and relatives in Hawaii...please keep a look out for crown flower bushes (and their fruits or seed pods) and let's get this mystery solved.
POSTSCRIPT:
I just got a photo from my friend, Kay (yup, another Kay) here on Oahu.
It IS a Calotropis procera. 😁 She sent me photos of this other variety of crown flower that is in the same family, but the flowers are tinier.
I wonder why they planted that one instead since it doesn't look like you can make leis with it.
Cool info! Can't say I've seen such a lei. I miss the number of butterflies too. Sad if they've declined in Hawaii too. Does the crown flower have a scent or is it slightly stinky like other milkweeds? Such fond memories of the simple things from childhood. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling the monarchs are seen more on the other side of the island. Maaaybe...
DeleteInteresting flower -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteAll new to me and interesting. Our monarchs are way down up here in the north as well ... they have ordinary milkweed to eat and lay on, and this is the farthest north that they come. We start to see them in late June, maybe, July for sure and they leave for the south in September. They congregated on the north side of Lake Erie and waited for a wind to carry them across. My parents, Windsor people, used to see whole trees full of them in early morning, fanning their wings to dry them. Now we are down to a few and we guard the fields where there is still milkweed.
ReplyDeleteThat flower is very exotic looking. You have so many things growing there that I've never seen around here; of course we don't have your tropical climate. :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent research. You are thorough. We are sad with the monarch situation. Pesticides, ditches mowed, etc.
ReplyDeleteKay, I've never seen that plant here... although we do get a form of milkweed... usually in the fields.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor has a huge crown flower bush and so we have butterflies flitting around a lot. So pretty. Some are albino and some are the typical orange. I have a little potted starter and just bought a miniature crown flower plant from a plant sale. It is too small to have flowers yet but I wonder if it is the calotropis procera. Sure hope not. I'm like you - if the plant isn't "useful", I would rather have one that can be made into leis.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful workshop on a flower I have long. Loved! Mahalo Kay warm Aloha from townside
ReplyDeleteInteresting that it is also in the milk weed family, which is what monarchs seem to like, even human ones. :-)
ReplyDeleteOne of my neighbours cultivates milkweed in her front garden (Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) ) for the Monarchs, and when she finds eggs she brings them inside and looks after them until they hatch into butterflies. Sadly I only saw 3 or 4 Monarchs last summer.
ReplyDeleteSad that there are so few Monarch butterflies left.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Mililani and Kunia i always saw butterflies on a daily basis Especially Kunia. The Christian school adjacent to a park in Mililani has a HUGE crown flower, more like a tree. They had some kind of farm thing going on in the back. I wonder if they even knew what they had. It could only be seen from the park though. Never saw butterflies there though. But Kunia, it was daily and all kinds. I guess it's near farm lands and not as built up as town. Because since moving to town they're a rare sight. Too much concrete, though lots of trees. BB
ReplyDeleteYou know I spent my first 5 years in my grandparents' plantation house in the middle of a canefield in Kunia. All that is totally gone. I don't even know where our plantation house was in Waipahu. All my childhood places are wiped out. It's so weird... I've always taken monarchs for granted, but now... when I see them I marvel at the sightings.
DeleteNever heard of them before. They are pretty indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful and the three strand necklace is exquisite.
ReplyDelete