Hawai’i is not known for the sort of mass blooms that occur across large sections of the arid Southwestern US in years of favorable rainfall. But a smaller version does occasionally occur across the younger lava flows around Waikoloa and Kiholo.
Spring storms have brought several inches of rain to the normally arid Waikoloa area, the soils are saturated. A few species of wildflower have taken advantage of the conditions to bloom en-mass.
The primary species is Dahlberg daisy (Thymophylla tenuiloba) carpeting many acres in a bright yellow show. Among the rough terrian of rock and mesquite it is rather pretty.
Dalhberg daisy is an invasive, probably imported as an ornamental, but this short lived annual does not seem to have any worrisome ecological impacts and is not a high priority for eradication.
The youngest of flows do not have the soil necessary to support a large plant assemblage. While the older flows, thousands of years old, are generally carpeted in deep grasses. Flows of a more modest age however have large expanses of normally barren rock among the mesquite trees that are ideal for a carpet of flowers to form given the right conditions.
The most notable blooms I have currently noted are above the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway near Kiholo and along Waikoloa Road, at the lower end and again in the area just makai of Waikoloa Village.
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