Plant phenology in a cloud forest on the island of Maui, Hawaii

We recorded the times of flowering, fruiting, and leafing for ten native ca nopy and subcanopy trees and shrubs (monthly from December 1994 through Dec ember 1997) in a montane cloud forest with relatively aseasonal rainfall on the island of Maul, Hawaii. These species represented the great majority o f individual woody plants at the sits. Flowers and fruits were available in the community year-round: however, all species exhibited annual patterns o f flowering, and four species showed annual patterns of fruiting while the rest fruited in supra-annual patterns. Many species had protracted flowerin g or fruiting perks, and some bore small numbers of Rowers or fruit year-ro und. Most species Glowered in a monthly peak mainly between May and August, corresponding to the period of greatest solar irradiance and marginally hi gher temperatures. Fruit ripening followed at varying intervals. In contras t, the heaviest flowering occurred between November and March, resulting fr om bloom of the dominant tree, Metrosideros polymorpha. At the highest elev ations, Metrosideros flowering was heaviest during September, but peak flow ering of lower elevation trees occurred in late fall and winter. Two forms of this species differed in their temporal and spatial patterns of flowerin g. For M. polymorpha var. polymorpha and var. incana bloom peaked annually between November and January; however, For M. polymorpha var. glaberrima, f lowering peaked from April through July, with an earlier secondary peak in January.