Index / Search / Metrosideros polymorpha
§1 Plant
Metrosideros polymorpha Gaudich.
vernacular 'ohi'a lehua — species · Myrtaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Myrtaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Metrosideros
§2a
Native status, by region
- HI Hawaii Native
§2b
County-level range
· 4 counties across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- None
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 22 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 320 min.
- Precipitation
- 20–450 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.3–5.7
- Root depth
- 24 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 65 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 30 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- Red
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Fall
- Seed ends
- Winter
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- No
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- Yes
- Fuelwood
- Medium
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 4 counties across 1 state.
Hawaii view state ↗ 4 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/MEPO5 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3185315 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z