Ohia Lehua Blossom Postcard

I happened upon this lovely bloom at Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The ʻōhiʻa lehua has deep roots in Hawaiian mythology In Hawaiian mythology: ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua were two young lovers. The volcano goddess Pele fell in love with the handsome ʻŌhiʻa and approached him, but he turned down her advances. In a fit of jealousy, Pele transformed ʻŌhiʻa into a tree. Lehua was devastated by this transformation and out of pity the other gods turned her into a flower and placed her upon the ʻōhiʻa tree.[15] Other versions say that Pele felt remorseful but was unable to reverse the change, so she turned Lehua into a flower herself.[16] It is said that when a lehua flower is plucked from an ʻōhiʻa tree, the sky will fill with rain representing the separated lovers' tears. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosideros_polymorpha)