Q: Aloha Heidi, Some years ago, a friend who was with the Department of Land and Natural Resources at the time took a bunch of us up to Mount Ka'ala. We went up in four-wheel drive vehicles from the Mokule'ia side. From that vantage point, we could see the entire Wai'anae Coast in front of us and the North Shore behind us. It was fantastic! He showed us 'olapa trees. When the wind blew, the leaves on the 'olapa would move like a hula dancer. It was fascinating. Do you know of this tree? What's its botanical name? Will it grow in the lowlands?

Mahalo, John Lee

A. Mahalo John, for reminding me of this awesome Hawaiian tree. This question came just before the wild winds were due to slam O'ahu and Kaua'i. We were about to get on a plane to Kaua'i to do some hiking and community service in Koke'e's native Hawaiian forests up over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

The winds didn't fully hit as predicted but there was some wild weather. We saw lots of graceful 'olapa dancing in the forest and lots of fallen branches on the trails and forest floor. I picked some branches up to see if I could grow them, with no guilt since the winds had blown them off the trees above.

'Olapa is known as Clerodendron in scientific Latin and is part of the Panax family, Araliaceae. We have some other really great Hawaiian trees in this plant family, some of which thrive in the lowlands, but they are not as graceful as the four native species of 'olapa or its close relative lapalapa. Just watching the beautiful 'olapa leaflets dance in the wind is relaxing to the body and soul, and styles of hula have been modeled after these graceful dancing forest trees.

Unlike beach plants, which can often be grown up mauka, in general, mauka forest plants, especially from higher elevations (Koke'e is about 4,000 feet, Mount Ka'ala, about 4,060 feet) do not grow well in the lowlands where most of us live and grow our gardens. However, relatives of 'olapa thrive outside the mauka rainforests, such as the magnificent 'ohe kukuluae'o (Reynoldsia) trees in the dryland forests at Kanepu'u on Lana'i or the 'ohe'ohe (Tetraplasandra) in the gulch at Wahiawa Botanical Garden, which were grown way back when people didn't think we could grow natives much at all. We keep finding out how to grow and maintain wonderful and rare Hawaiian trees and plants.

'Olapa can be grown from cuttings or, better yet, from seeds. As with many native Hawaiian plants, the seeds should not be dried out first. It's better to soak the precious ripe 'olapa seeds in warm water for about 24 hours. As they soak, lomi the ripe seeds and remove the fruit. Sow and grow them right away in 6-inch pots, spacing out nine to 12 seeds and covering them with a 1/2-inch of the potting mix. Gently firm the soil to get the seeds in intimate contact with the potting media and water them daily — or several times a day if you have time — to replicate as best you can the rainforest conditions that 'olapa thrive in. Be patient — they can take more than six months to germinate.

It's also so vital to care for the forests where they thrive best. This means controlling fire, off-road vehicles, weeds, pigs and other chompers and stompers, such as seed-eating rats and all those alien species. As my akamai buddy, Lynne Constantinides, asked me while we were weeding up in Koke'e: "You know the worst of all these alien species, Heidi?"

We looked at each other and laughed: "People!"

We made the problems for the Hawaiian forest and we can be the solution. Let's grow natives!

La'au Hawai'i E OLA KOA! Live long and be strong like the koa tree.

Dance like an 'olapa tree hula!