The Smaller Kalopa Kopiko 'ula

This tree stands about 13 metres, which is as tall as its species has ever been documented to grow, and it does it on a trunk 82 centimetres round. You can put both arms around it comfortably. Kopiko 'ula belongs to the coffee family and grows only in Hawaii, usually as a slim understory tree that never gets to decide how much light it receives. Height is the whole of this one's claim: the state's record puts it at 42 feet, and the species tops out at about 45. There are two kopiko 'ula on the Kalopa nature trail and they are nothing alike. The other one, further round the same 0.7 mile loop, is over three metres round and nowhere near as tall. Between them they cover most of the range this species is capable of, which is not something you can usually see in a single afternoon. Surveyors rated this one's condition fair rather than good, so go expecting a record holder rather than a showpiece. Its age has never been established, and the state register carries measurements without dates. If you know of a count for a Hawaiian understory tree of this size, tell us and we will add it. The forest around it is protected native rainforest, roughly a hundred acres of it, which is why a tree of this kind survived long enough to reach its ceiling.