Our names are sources of pride and, of course, our societal identifiers. In the world of nā mea ola (biology) there are some species with many cousins, up on the kuahiwi (mountains) or in wet forests, sometimes isolated by deep valleys or steep ridges or kīpuka (clearings) or what-lā, small communities survive.
Unfortunately, specific inoa (names) for each unique species have been lost. Or sometimes the names are confused, or written with typographical errors, or things are called different names in different regions, or appear on lists with no connecting reference or image. Such a messy challenge to untangle!
Here we have a lichen, a plant comprised of a limu and a fungus, intertwined, growing together symbiotically. They help each other, with limu making food through photosynthesis, while fungus provides the hale (home).
Its name is not known with certainty, but we research, striving to understand. Cladonia skottsbergii is its Latin binomial, but an inoa Hawaiʻi eludes us. The best we can do is look things up, googling, and asking friends and other researchers for kōkua. One source shares “limu haea, a lichen (Stereocaulon sp.) with erect, branching stalks.”
But then, Pukui and Elbert gives us “hā.ʻea Rare var. kahaʻea, clouds.” Iʻm a fan of “Rare var.(iants), words that’ve fallen out of favor or are infrequently used. And too, Iʻm a fan of noho i waho, a maliu; being outside and paying attention.
Clouds. But on the ground? Why not? We suggest that this lichen is indeed limu hāʻea. It grows in loose billows on the ground, often on cinder substrate. Clouds.
Stereocaulon vulcani is a grey lichen often found on windward young ʻaʻā, and is, in fact, erect with branching stalks. It’s very different in habit and in color, and is definitely not cloud-like. So we continue to muse, mull, and wonder…limu hāʻea?
 there are some species with many cousins, up on the kuahiwi (mountains) or in wet forests, sometimes isolated by deep valleys or steep ridges or kīpuka (clearings) or what-lā, small communities survive.){kind=link}