Banyan Tree

As you continue down the Kūloa Point Trail from the hale hālāwai, one tree stands out and draws one’s attention to appreciate its mysterious dimensions. It has many limbs surrounding its fluted trunk and falling from its top to the ground. It almost looks like a giant octopus or an alien fell to earth and is forever frozen there. This is a banyan tree. This is one of several in the park, but only a couple are as photogenic and accessible as this one.  It is unknown exactly how this particular banyan tree made it to this spot, but it probably spread from other banyan trees brought to the area by migrant workers from Asia who worked on the sugar plantation here in the late 1800s. 

People from many parts of Asia now call Maui home and have become an integral part of Maui culture. Bringing these plants with them was like carrying a piece of their home. The roots put down here have spread over the island. The plantation workers came to Maui in search of a better life, and just like early Hawaiians, they chose items important to their culture to carry with them.

Many of the other trees along this path are also recent introductions from sugar plantation workers from Asian countries such as mango, java plum, guava, and avocado trees.  As we continue to the next stop and leave this recently introduced tree, we’ll see a grove of trees brought by Polynesian voyagers because of its many uses that helped people thrive in this area.