Drive through the uplands of Hawaiʻi Island and you will pass a gnarled, silver-barked tree crowned with tufts of scarlet blossoms. That tree is the ʻōhiʻa, and its flower is the lehua — and together they carry one of the most tender love stories in all of Hawaiian tradition.
The short answer
The ʻōhiʻa lehua is a single native Hawaiian tree, Metrosideros polymorpha, whose red pom-pom blossom is the lehua and whose trunk is the ʻōhiʻa. In Hawaiian legend the two were young lovers separated by the volcano goddess Pele and reunited only as tree and flower, which is why picking a lehua is said to bring the rain.
What is the legend of ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua?
As the moʻolelo is most often told, ʻŌhiʻa was a handsome young man of great strength and spirit, and Lehua was a gentle young woman whose beauty matched her kindness. The two were devoted to one another. But Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes, saw ʻŌhiʻa and desired him for herself.
When ʻŌhiʻa refused her — his heart already belonged to Lehua — Pele's love turned to fury. In her anger she transformed him into a twisted, unlovely tree rooted to the mountainside. Lehua was heartbroken. She begged the gods to undo the curse or to let her share his fate. Moved by her grief, the other gods could not reverse Pele's work, so instead they placed Lehua upon the tree as its blossom, so the lovers would never again be parted.
This is why Hawaiians say the ʻōhiʻa and the lehua must stay together. And it is why an old saying warns that to pluck a lehua flower is to separate the lovers once more — and the sky will weep with rain.
Pick a lehua and it will rain, for you have parted the lovers, and the tears of Lehua begin to fall.
Why is the ʻōhiʻa lehua so important to Hawaiʻi?
Beyond the love story, the ʻōhiʻa is arguably the most important native tree in the islands. It is a keystone species — the plant that quite literally builds the forest. ʻŌhiʻa is famous as one of the very first living things to take root on fresh lava, sending fragile roots into cracks in the cooled aʻā and pāhoehoe long before richer soil exists. Where ʻōhiʻa leads, the rest of the native forest follows.
That pioneering role gives the tree a second layer of meaning. The bright lehua blossoming on black, still-warm lava has long been read as a symbol of resilience, of life returning to a scorched place, and of the endless cycle of destruction and rebirth that shapes these volcanic islands. It is a fitting emblem for a landscape born of Pele's fire.
How was ʻōhiʻa used in old Hawaiʻi?
The tree was as practical as it was sacred. ʻŌhiʻa wood is dense, hard, and durable, and Hawaiians relied on it for some of their most important work. It was carved into kiʻi — the temple images that stood in the heiau — and shaped into tools, house posts, and parts of the canoe. Because ʻōhiʻa grew in the same high forests where the goddess Laka was honored, its lehua blossoms and leaf buds (the liko lehua) were gathered for lei worn in hula, tying the tree to the dance and its ceremony.
The lehua was also a poetic favorite. It appears again and again in chants and mele, standing in for a beloved person, for beauty that must be treated gently, and for the particular place a flower calls home. To this day, the lehua is the recognized flower of Hawaiʻi Island itself.
What does the lehua flower symbolize today?
For many Hawaiians and residents, the ʻōhiʻa lehua stands above all for enduring love — a devotion that even a goddess's jealousy could not break, and that lives on in every red bloom on the mountain. It also speaks to fidelity, patience, and the idea that two things truly meant for each other belong together.
The tree carries a quieter lesson too: take only what you need, and leave the living forest whole. The rain superstition is, at heart, a gentle rule of respect — a reminder woven into folklore that the ʻōhiʻa and its lehua are not ours to casually pluck. That reverence for the plants of the islands runs through much of Hawaiian culture.
Why are Hawaiians trying to save the ʻōhiʻa?
Since about 2010, a disease known as Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) — caused by two invasive fungal pathogens, Ceratocystis lukuohia and Ceratocystis huliohia — has killed more than a million ʻōhiʻa trees, first in the Puna district of Hawaiʻi Island and later on Maui, Oʻahu, and Kauaʻi. Because ʻōhiʻa covers close to a million acres and anchors the native forest, its loss threatens the birds that nest in it, the watersheds that depend on it, and a living piece of Hawaiian identity.
The response has become a cultural movement as much as a scientific one. Islanders are urged not to move ʻōhiʻa wood between islands, to clean their shoes and gear after hiking, and to avoid injuring living trees. Saving the ʻōhiʻa is, in a real sense, keeping the lovers together for the generations still to come.
How to see — and honor — the lehua
The best places to meet the ʻōhiʻa are the cool upland forests: the rim trails of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, the koa-and-ʻōhiʻa woods above Kona, and the high slopes of Haleakalā. When you find one in bloom, the old etiquette is simple. Admire it, photograph it, chant to it if you know the words — but leave the flower on the tree. Let the lovers stay together, and let the rain hold off for one more traveler.
Is ʻōhiʻa lehua one plant or two?
One. The ʻōhiʻa is the tree (Metrosideros polymorpha) and the lehua is its flower. The full name ʻōhiʻa lehua refers to the two together, which is exactly the point of the legend.
Does picking a lehua really make it rain?
That is the traditional belief. The saying holds that plucking the lehua separates the lovers ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua, and the falling rain is Lehua weeping. Whether or not the weather cooperates, it endures as a respected reminder not to pick the flower.
What color are lehua blossoms?
Most often a vivid red, formed from a burst of fine stamens rather than broad petals. But ʻōhiʻa is remarkably variable and lehua can also appear in orange, yellow, salmon, and rare white and pink forms.
Is the lehua the official flower of an island?
Yes. The red lehua is the recognized flower (pua) of Hawaiʻi Island, the Big Island, where the ʻōhiʻa is especially widespread on the volcanic slopes.
What is Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death?
It is a disease caused by two invasive fungi that has killed over a million ʻōhiʻa trees since roughly 2010. Visitors and residents help slow its spread by not moving ʻōhiʻa wood between islands and by cleaning shoes and gear after entering the forest.
Keep reading from the journal
- The legend of Pele: Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes
- Hawaiian Flowers and Their Meanings
- Native Hawaiian Plants You Should Know
- Koa Wood: Why Hawaiʻi's Native Hardwood Is So Treasured
- Kukui Nut: The Meaning of Hawaiʻi's Light-Giving State Tree