The Larger Kalopa Ohi'a Lehua

This is the largest tree on the loop: 4.39 metres round, about 26 metres tall, and rated in excellent health when the state last measured it. Ohi'a lehua is also the tree that colonises bare lava, the first green thing to appear on new ground on this island, and it goes on to hold the canopy over almost every wet native forest Hawaii has left. The state parks department describes this trail as running beneath large old growth ohi'a, and this is the biggest of them on record. The species reaches roughly 30 metres in the wettest forest, so this one is near its ceiling. Ohi'a is a famously slow grower, which means a trunk 1.4 metres thick represents a great deal of time. Nobody has attached a number to it. If you know of a count, tell us and it goes on the page. One honest note on finding it. The register entry carries the measurements and no address at all, so this tree is placed at Kalopa because its coordinates match the other five listed here and because the park's own account of its canopy fits what is recorded. The pin is park-level in any case. Walk the 0.7 mile loop, look up, and take the crown that everything else on the trail is standing under.