The Divi-Divi of Kalakaua Park

A divi-divi is a strange thing to find protected in a Hawaiian town square. Caesalpinia coriaria comes from the dry forests of the Caribbean and Central America, it is the national tree of Curacao, and its seed pods were harvested for the tannin that turned hides into leather. Nothing about that story runs through Hilo, which gets more than three metres of rain a year. It is here anyway, at 3.3 metres round, in good condition, one of three protected trees in Kalakaua Park along with the 1882 banyan and an endangered native palm. Hilo's own downtown walking tour includes the park's trees and describes them as more than a century old as a group, which is corroboration for the park and not a date for this tree, so no age is claimed here. The species is worth looking at properly once you find it. Divi-divi grow slowly and hold their branches in a lopsided, wind-combed way even where there is no wind, and the pods curl into tight brown spirals that look more like something that fell off an animal than off a tree. The park is small, open daily and free, and it sits in the middle of downtown, which makes all three of its trees one short stop rather than three.