The ʻŌhiʻa Print: Hawaii's Lava-Born Tree and a Legend of Love
Grown from a lovers' embrace, the ʻōhiʻa lehua spreads its blossoms from the Hāmākua Coast to the cloud forests of Hualālai. It's the most common native tree in Hawaii, and one of the toughest. Our ʻŌhiʻa print celebrates the tree and its story.
The tree that grows from lava
When lava cools into bare black rock, the ʻōhiʻa is often one of the first plants to take root. It grows from sea level up to about 8,000 feet, as a scrubby shrub on young lava and a tall tree in the rain forest. Its blossoms, called lehua, are pompoms of fine stamens, usually red but sometimes orange, yellow, salmon or pink. Hawaiians used its hard wood for houses, heiau, poi boards and kapa beaters, and its curved roots for parts of outrigger canoes.
The legend of ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua
There are many stories about the ʻōhiʻa. The one most people know today goes like this. Pele, the goddess of the volcano, fell for a handsome young man named ʻŌhiʻa. But ʻŌhiʻa loved Lehua, and he turned Pele away. In her anger, Pele turned him into a gnarled tree. The gods took pity on Lehua and made her the blossom on the tree, so the two would never be apart.
That's why, people say, if you pick a lehua flower it will rain. The rain is the lovers' tears at being separated.
The print
Our ʻŌhiʻa print scatters sprigs of soft blue-green ʻōhiʻa leaves and red, orange and yellow lehua blossoms across a white ground. It's on a short sleeve Western snap shirt, printed in small batches on Cowboy Cloth, on the reverse side of the fabric for a softer, sun-faded look. (Read more in Our Fabrics.)
Shop ʻŌhiʻa
Ohia White, $98. Short sleeve Western snap shirt, reverse-printed Cowboy Cloth.
Frequently asked questions
What is an ʻōhiʻa lehua? A flowering tree found only in Hawaii, and the most common native tree in the Islands. The tree is the ʻōhiʻa. Its blossom is the lehua.
What is the legend of ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua? In the best-known version, Pele turned ʻŌhiʻa into a tree when he refused her, and the gods turned his love, Lehua, into the tree's blossom so they could stay together.
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