The forest is dominated by the wide-ranging Metrosideros polymorpha (Hawaiian: `ohi`a). The forest trees form a continuous canopy.
You can see the leaves of this species in the abundant litter on the trail.
The sickle-shaped phyllodes (below left) are easily spotted when you look at the forest-floor litter.
At the start of the trail, however, most of the litter is mixed (below right), indicating that both Metrosideros polymorpha and Acacia koa are in the canopy.
The litter is abundant.
There is a patch of the alien strawberry (Fragaria vesca) in the background.
The two pictures below are Vaccinium reticulatum (Hawaiian: `ohelo), another common small shrub. New growth at the tips of the stems of often bright red. Look for the fruits. They are round and range in color from bright red to yellow. There are remnant of the flower at the end of the fruit; this is another identification characteristic.
You'll see both of these species commonly occurring along the trail and in the forest as you walk through the woodland.
Notice the slow change from the closed canopy at the start of the trail to one that begins to have distinct openings (right).
Later, you will see that the general stature of the trees becomes shorter (below left).
The soils are becoming shallower as you progress, and the area is probably slightly drier, too. There is some heterogeneity in the woodland as you will see in some patches with larger or more densely spaced trees (below right).
There are some dense, low growing Dodonea viscosa along the trail shown here with an abundance of leaf litter.
The understory plants remain fairly dense.
Finally, the forest canopy opens (below right) as the 1974 lava flow is approached. The forest trees are tall, however, right up to the edge of this fairly recent flow.
