The Honoapi'ilani Highway Kiawe

Kiawe only reached Hawaii in 1828, carried over from Peru, so whatever this tree's age turns out to be, it has a ceiling of about two centuries. It is still one of the largest of its kind recorded on Maui: 8.1 metres round, 9 metres tall, condition good, on the register the state keeps of its exceptional trees. It grows on the ocean side of Honoapi'ilani Highway near mile marker 11, on the stretch between Ma'alaea and Olowalu. The land belongs to the state transport department, which is why the register can enter it as visible from the street and reachable, and why the visit costs nothing and involves nobody: you pull over and walk to it. Kiawe is a mesquite, a genus that makes its living in dry country, which is the short explanation for how a tree this size comes to be standing on a hot leeward coast where little else gets tall. This is the thinnest entry on the page. The register is the only source we found for it, and the pin is a mile marker plus a grid reference rather than a fix on the trunk, so treat the map as pointing at the right kilometre of road. If you have stopped at it, tell us where exactly it stands and we will move the pin.