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Palace banyan
crashes into lot
The landmark tree loses two
trunks to wind and weak roots
About a quarter of a 120-year-old banyan tree planted by Queen Kapiolani toppled over Friday at Iolani Palace.
"I thought it was an accident waiting to happen," said Mary Steiner, chief executive officer of the Outdoor Circle, who noted it has been "stressed for years."
"I feel the rest of the tree can be saved if there is remedial work done."
No one was injured as the two clusters of tree trunks crashed and filled the 18-car back parking lot at Iolani Palace.
Steiner said the landmark tree is on the state's list of exceptional trees -- defined by state law as those with historic or cultural value because of age, rarity, location, size, beauty or endemic status.
State Comptroller Russ Saito said preliminary investigation shows the tree fell because of a combination of high winds and a weak root system. The rambling, 60-foot-tall Indian banyan is composed of six or seven main trunks with aerial roots and runners that extend along the state Capitol side of the palace.
The tree came from two plantings by Queen Kapiolani sometime between 1882 and 1886, according to Stuart Ching, palace curator.
"They were believed to have been planted on either side of a carriage way," Ching said.
The banyan tree, admired by thousands of palace visitors, had no special historical significance, Ching said, but it stood on the site of what was called Ihikapukalani, a house built by King Kamehameha IV, before the existing Iolani Palace was completed in 1882.
A landscaping firm will be hired this week to remove the fallen tree trunks and branches, Saito said. After that the state will look at ways to preserve the banyan.
"The state has to come up with a plan to make the tree happy," Steiner said, suggesting that the tree might be more stable if it were allowed to grow into portions of the rear parking lot.
Abner Undan, president of Trees of Hawaii and an arborist who serves on the Outdoor Circle board, said he had suggested to the state that the tree canopy be trimmed and that the longer horizontal branches be cut. By reducing the tree's crown, Undan said, the banyan would grow stronger.
Saito said he would discuss trimming the tree with Undan.
The state has previously had to trim the tree because it was hanging over the state Archives building, and tree droppings were clogging the building's gutter.
"It got so bad we were having leaks in the roof caused by the gutters overflowing, and we can't have a leak in the state archives," Saito said.
Another portion of the banyan has a termite infestation, Saito said, but that is being treated and is not connected to the portion of the tree that fell.
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