Q. What are we going to do when all the 'akulikuli plants filtering pollution on the Ala Wai start flowering like crazy and all the lei makers want to paddle out and pick 'em and string 'em? Will it look like Holland with overflowing flowers along the river? That would be a gorgeous and fabulous way to keep this urban body of precious water clean.

A. Can't keep the hula dancers and lei cultivators down, can we?

There are several plants here in Hawai'i that we call 'akulikuli.

The lei-making one, 'akulikuli lei, grows best in high, cool sunny areas of Hawai'i, up in Waimea on the Big Island and Lana'i City. It is in the Azoiaceae family and is from South Africa.

This is a classic old-time lei. The gift of a lei 'akulikuli was given to me once in March of 1985. We were on Lana'i with a hiking group led by famed Hawai'i naturalist and educator Lorrin Gill. Nalani Blaisdell's auntie lived there. It was my birthday, so Auntie gave Nalani and I each a lei of precious 'akulikuli.

They were plush, pink ones and they matched the flush of our cheeks from hiking Lana'ihale and all around in the choice forests of Lana'i.

The flowers are really cool — they open only on sunny days and close up and go moemoe (to sleep) at night. On cloudy days the buds are kind of hilahila (shy) and they won't open up fully.

As a lei, if you are gentle, it can last for a couple of days. Wear it in the day and let it "rest" at night, since the flowers will be closed up. The blossom colors are really pretty and lush: pinks, purples, oranges and whites.

'Akulikuli kula is a weed, called Portulaca oleracea by scientists. It is a famine food and salad green to some people. Pigs and pet rabbits like to eat it.

The 'akulikuli that they're growing on floating, toxin-sucking-up mats in the Ala Wai is an indigenous Hawaiian plant. That means it is native to Hawai'i, got here without the hand of man, and is found all over the subtropical world, usually in coastal areas.

That 'akulikuli is Sesuvium portulacastrum. It has small flowers, borne singly among the leaves. Flowers can be white to pink to lavender.

Come to think of it, they'd make very cute, tiny lei by a patient lei maker with delicate fingers.

Check out the floating mats. They are at the diamondhead end of the canal, anchored on the mauka side. They are very pretty and attract waterfowl such as ducks, ducklings, and even a native auku'u or black-crowned night heron.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.