Lahaina Banyan Tree

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Lahaina Banyan Tree
The Banyan tree view.jpg
Full view of the banyan tree with 16 major trunks apart from the main trunk
USA Hawaii location map.svg
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Lahaina Banyan Tree
Species Banyan ( Ficus benghalensis )
Coordinates 20°53′10″N156°40′29″W / 20.886111°N 156.674722°W / 20.886111; -156.674722
Date seededApril 24, 1873 (1873-04-24)

The Lahaina Banyan Tree is a banyan tree ( Ficus benghalensis ; known in Hawaiian as paniana) in Maui, Hawaii, United States. A gift from missionaries in India, the tree was planted in Lahaina on April 24, 1873, to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of first American Protestant mission. Covering 1.94 acres, the tree resides in Lahaina Banyan Court Park. A mere 8 feet (2.4 m) when planted, it grew to a height of about 60 feet (18 m) and rooted into 16 major trunks, apart from the main trunk, with the canopy spread over an area of about 0.66 acres (0.27 ha). It is considered the largest banyan tree in the state and the country. In April 2023, Lahaina held a birthday party to celebrate the Banyan Tree’s planting 150 years ago.

Contents

The 2023 Hawaii wildfires destroyed the town of Lahaina and severely damaged the tree. [1] Disaster recovery efforts took place to determine the scope of the damage and to determine if the tree could be salvaged and restored. [2] After fully examining the tree, arborists believe it has a reasonable chance of regeneration. To improve its chances, they have implemented a regimen of irrigation, compost, and soil aeration, with results expected in three to six months.

History

The banyan tree is located close to the port in the historical Lahaina town, which was the former capital of Hawaii. It is the oldest banyan tree in Hawaii. [3]

The banyan tree, received as a gift by the Smith family in the 1870s, was planted on April 24, 1873, at Lahaina by William Owen Smith, the then sheriff of Lahaina. [4] [5] The tree was planted to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Protestant mission in Maui; the mission had been invited to Maui by Queen Keōpūolani, wife of late King Kamehameha. [4] Its extensive trunk and aerial root system covered 0.66 acres (0.27 ha), located in the Courthouse Square, which is renamed as the Banyan Tree Park covering 1.94 acres. It is not only the largest in Hawaii [6] but also in the United States. [7] The park is managed by the County of Maui and the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. [3] [4]

According to reports a royal ball was held under the tree in 1886 for King Kamehameha III on his birthday. [8]

The Aloha Festivals Week has been held under this tree. The shade of the tree is used to shade vendors who hold events approximately 36 weekends per year. At sunset, there is a riot of noise as the birds fly back into the tree to find the best branch to sleep on. There used to be a canal of water down one side of the tree, and even though the canal is now a street, it is still thought to be a source of water for the tree roots.

Aerial roots help support the tree's huge limbs. To encourage the roots to reach the ground faster, there were mayonnaise jars filled with water and tied to hang just below the roots. The roots wanted the water and it was thought that they did grow faster. Despite it appearing as many trees, it is actually one tree with many limbs that have grown together.

2023 wildfire and rehabilitation

Damage from the 2023 Hawaii wildfires FEMA - B-Roll of Hawaii Wildfire -1.jpg
Damage from the 2023 Hawaii wildfires

The tree was seriously damaged when a series of wildfires broke out on the island of Maui in early August 2023. The wind-driven fires prompted evacuations, caused widespread damage, and killed nearly a hundred people [9] in the town of Lahaina. The proliferation of the wildfires was attributed to dry, gusty conditions created by a strong high-pressure area north of Hawaii and Hurricane Dora to the south. [10]

Consulting Arborist Steve Nimz is monitoring the burned tree for signs of rehabilitation and renewed health. After the wildfire, a full inspection of the tree was completed, comprising the aerial roots and beneath the bark. Nimz discovered that the main trunks have live tissue, which is considered a good indicator of regeneration. He expects the wait and see period to last anywhere from three to six months. [11] Current restoration efforts include a daily watering program provided by water trucks with hoses, and the addition of a two-inch layer of compost and soil aeration. [12] "Normally if you touch or cut into a banyan tree, you’re just going to see that sap oozing out really fast," Nimz told The Maui News. "There was sap where I cut in on the top and all these areas, but it wasn’t proliferous like it would be on a really healthy tree. But it’s there. What I am saying is that these trees are resilient. With everybody’s love and everybody here, we want to see the tree make it. It’s up to the tree right now." [13]

On September 19, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources reported a fresh sprout of leaves out of the tree, indicating the first signs of possible recovery. [14] In November 2023 it was reported by arborists that while part of the tree only had high heat from the flames, which killed the leaves and not the branches or trunk about 15-20% of the tree was too badly burned and would need to be trimmed back. Stepping stones around the base of the tree were removed to allow more nutrients to penetrate the soil and fifteen solar powered sensors were attached to the tree in order to monitor it. [15]

In March 2024, roughly a third of the tree was removed. These dead portions were removed in order to encourage the tree to redirect its healing efforts towards the portions of the tree that were recovering. In addition, efforts were underway to eventually restore the original footprint of the tree via air layering. [16]

Features

The banyan tree or Ficus benghalensis is from India, and it is known for unusual growth of its roots. The roots descend or sprout from the branches into aerial roots towards the ground where they form new trunks. This results in the growth of many trunks around the main trunk. [8] [17] The banyan, native to India, is one of 60 types (out of reported 1,000 species in the world) of fig trees found throughout Hawaii. The trees are tall and “grow into mazes of additional trunks” and in Lahaina the tree covers an area of over half an acre. [18] The banyan tree in Lahaina, when planted, was a sapling of 8 feet (2.4 m) height. Over the years it has grown to a height of over 60 feet (18 m) and spread into 16 major trunks, apart from the main trunk forming a large canopy of providing shade to the people from the blazing sun of Lahaina; it was intended as a part of a park. [4] [19] The growth of the roots was facilitated by the local Japanese gardening community, by hanging lanterns filled with water at suitable aerial roots. [8] It is one of the sixty fig tree species in Hawaii and is said to be the largest tree both in Hawaii and in the United States. [4] It has a circumference of about one-fourth of a mile, and about a thousand people could congregate under it. [8] A sight to watch at dusk time is the congregation of birds such as common myna birds (Acridotheres tristis) which roost in the branches of the tree for the night causing a cacophony of bird cries. [19]

Conservation

The tree has been subject to severe stress due to drought conditions, soil compaction from foot and vehicle traffic in the park, and also due to developmental activities in the vicinity. As a result, restrictions have been imposed on plying vehicles under the tree. Its sustenance has been ensured by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation by installing an irrigation system in the park. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lahaina, Hawaii</span> Settlement in Maui County, Hawaii, United States

Lahaina is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. On the northwest coast of the island of Maui, it encompasses Lahaina town and the Kaanapali and Kapalua beach resorts. As of the 2020 census, Lahaina had a resident population of 12,702. The CDP spans the coast along Hawaii Route 30 from a tunnel at the south end, through Olowalu, and to the CDPs of Kaanapali and Napili-Honokowai to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banyan</span> Subgenus of plants, the banyans

A banyan, also spelled banian, is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as an epiphyte, i.e. a plant that grows on another plant, when its seed germinates in a crack or crevice of a host tree or edifice. "Banyan" often specifically denotes Ficus benghalensis, which is the national tree of India, though the name has also been generalized to denominate all figs that share a common life cycle and used systematically in taxonomy to denominate the subgenus Urostigma.

<i>Ficus benghalensis</i> Species of fig tree

Ficus benghalensis, or Ficus indica commonly known as the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan, is a tree native to the Indian Subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It is also known as the "strangler fig" because it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up suffocating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arboriculture</span> Management and study of trees and other woody plants

Arboriculture is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environment. The practice of arboriculture includes cultural techniques such as selection, planting, training, fertilization, pest and pathogen control, pruning, shaping, and removal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aerial root</span> Root which grows above the ground

Aerial roots are roots above the ground. They are almost always adventitious. They are found in diverse plant species, including epiphytes such as orchids (Orchidaceae), tropical coastal swamp trees such as mangroves, banyan figs, the warm-temperate rainforest rata, and pohutukawa trees of New Zealand. Vines such as common ivy and poison ivy also have aerial roots.

<i>Ficus microcarpa</i> Species of fig

Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or gajumaru (ガジュマル), is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is widely planted as a shade tree and frequently misidentified as F. retusa or as F. nitida.

<i>Ficus elastica</i> Species of banyan tree

Ficus elastica, the rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber tree, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush, Indian rubber tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to eastern parts of South and Southeast Asia. It has become naturalized in Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and the US state of Florida. Despite its common names, it is not used in the commercial production of natural rubber.

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The Lahaina, Kaanapali and Pacific Railroad (LKPRR) is a steam-powered, 3 ft narrow gauge heritage railroad in Lāhainā, Hawaii. The LKPRR operated the Sugar Cane Train, a 6-mile (9.7 km), 40-minute trip in open-air coaches pulled by vintage steam locomotives. The tracks connect Lahaina with Puukolii, stopping briefly at Kaanapali. A narrator points outs sites of interest during the trip, which crosses a 325-foot (99 m) curved wooden trestle whose elevation yields panoramic views of neighboring islands and the West Maui Mountains. The line is currently not operating and all equipment is stored west of Lahaina.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basal shoot</span> Shoot growing from an adventitious bud

Basal shoots, root sprouts, adventitious shoots, and suckers are words for various kinds of shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the base of a tree or shrub, or from adventitious buds on its roots. Shoots that grow from buds on the base of a tree or shrub are called basal shoots; these are distinguished from shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the roots of a tree or shrub, which may be called root sprouts or suckers. A plant that produces root sprouts or runners is described as surculose. Water sprouts produced by adventitious buds may occur on the above-ground stem, branches or both of trees and shrubs. Suckers are shoots arising underground from the roots some distance from the base of a tree or shrub.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Great Banyan</span> Banyan Tree at Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Kolkata, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wo Hing Society Hall</span> United States historic place

The Wo Hing Society Hall was a building located at 858 Front Street in the Lahaina Historic District in Lahaina, Hawaii. Built around 1912, it served the growing Chinese population centered in Lahaina, primarily those working in the sugarcane industry as a social and fraternal hall for the Wo Hing Society. By the 1940s the declining Chinese population in Lahaina slowly made the building redundant and the property was neglected.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lahaina Historic District</span> Historic district in Hawaii, United States

Lahaina Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing most of the community of Lahaina, Hawaii, on the west side of the island of Maui in the US state of Hawaii. Designated in 1962, the district recognizes Lahaina for its well-preserved character as a 19th-century port, and for its social and economic importance in the 19th century as a major whaling center in the Pacific, and as one of the capital cities of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lahaina Banyan Court Park</span> Public park in Lahaina, Hawaii

Lahaina Banyan Court Park is a public park in the town of Lahaina, Hawaii, The 1.94 acres (0.79 ha) park, also known as Lahaina Courthouse Square and commonly called Banyan Tree Park, contains multiple heritage sites. Located at the corner of Front Street and Canal Street, it is part of the Lahaina Historic Districts.

Events from 2023 in Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Hawaii wildfires</span> Deadly wildfires on Maui and Hawaiʻi, U.S.

In early August 2023, a series of wildfires broke out in the U.S. state of Hawaii, predominantly on the island of Maui. The wind-driven fires prompted evacuations, caused widespread damage, killing at least 101 people and leaving two persons missing in the town of Lahaina on Maui's northwest coast. The proliferation of the wildfires was attributed to dry, gusty conditions created by a strong high-pressure area north of Hawaii and Hurricane Dora to the south.

References

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  2. Anguiano, Dani (August 10, 2023). "'Heartbeat of Lahaina Town': wildfire chars beloved 150-year-old banyan tree". The Guardian . Archived from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Lahaina Banyan Court". County of Maui. Archived from the original on 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
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  5. Legarde & Foster 1996, p. 171.
  6. Kevin Whitton (15 August 2014). Hawaiian Islands. Avalon Travel Publishing. pp. 265–. ISBN   978-1-61238-831-1.
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  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Timothy Hurley (22 April 2001). "There's life yet in the old banyan tree". WebCite. Archived from the original on July 17, 2001.
  9. "Hope Is Hard to Let Go After Maui Fire As Odds Wane over Reuniting with Still Missing Loved Ones". www.wdtn.com. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
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  11. KITV Web Staff (August 14, 2023). "Esteemed arborist Steve Nimz gives update on Lahaina's Banyan tree". KITV . Archived from the original on 2023-08-16. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  12. Wu, Nina (August 15, 2023). "Efforts underway to revive 150-year-old banyan tree in Lahaina". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  13. Uechi, Colleen (August 14, 2023). "On the ground in Lahaina town: Sadness, searching, signs of hope". The Maui News. Archived from the original on 2023-08-14. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  14. "Lahaina's historic banyan tree sprouts first new leaves since wildfires". NBC News. 2023-09-19. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  15. Quan, Rick (2023-11-13). "Maui Resilience: Lahaina's iconic tree emerges from wildfire, faces 20% loss". KITV Island News. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  16. Thayer, Matthew (March 9, 2024). "Fire-ravaged banyan receives major trim". The Maui News . Archived from the original on 2024-03-09. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
  17. a roving printer (1861). life and adventure in the south pacific.
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  19. 1 2 "Lahaina Historic Trail, The Banyan Tree". Archived from the original on 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2014-11-17.

Bibliography