COULD I POSSIBLY HAVE AN ENDANGERED PLANT GROWING IN MY APARTMENT?

Day 72 of the Lower Puna Eruption brought another 5+ earthquake at the summit and the loss of Kua o ka La Public Charter School for 200 students.

On June 30 I asked if anyone knew this mysterious plant:

By the way, speaking of plants, six weeks ago 15 Craigside went to the Lyon Arboretum, where I purchased lavender, plumeria and black taro plants.

I replanted them into one rectangular pot, but out came a bunch of skinny weeds and this leafy plant that grew like a weed:

Nothing to 18 inches in six weeks.  Anyone know what this is?  I pulled and threw away the weeds, but should I also do the same to this miracle plant?

This all began exactly two months ago when 15 Craigside had an outing to the University of Hawaii's Lyon Arboretum.  Two days ago I reported that the Lower Puna Eruption was now threatening two extinct species, and here is a photo of one of them, the Cyrtandra nanawaleensis (haiwale) shrub:

Nothing particular occurred to me, until KHON TV had a clip and I saw other shots of this plant:

I today took photos of my Lyons mystery plant:

Well, I'll soon learn when these buds bloom.  I just might have in my living room a Hawaiian endangered plant, a Cyrtandra nanaweleensis (haiwale):

Federal Register Documents

10/29/2013	78 FR 64637 64690	Determination of Endangered Species Status for 15 Species on Hawaii Island; Final Rule
10/17/2012	77 FR 63927 64018	Listing 15 Species on Hawaii Island as Endangered and Designating Critical Habitat for 3 Species: Proposed rule.

Amazingly enough, those weeds I actually pulled out looked exactly like this Ischaemum byrone (Hilo Ischaemum), the other endangered plant overrun by lava in Puna:

Oh, I have another plant threatened in Puna, a papaya:

Yesterday I read that Lam's Kitchen served the best beef chow fun in Hawaii.  I remember paying 5 cents for a bag of chow fun growing up in Kakaako.  Thought I buy another bag and have my lunch at the coastline, perhaps by Aloha Tower.  Lam's is a smallish but cleanish restaurant, which was filled when I entered.  An order of chow fun now costs nearly $9.

Then, I thought, what about some Chinese Roast Pork, the one with the crispy skin.  So I stopped by Char Siu House and ordered a quarter pound, which evoked some disdain.  

Walking to Aloha Tower, as I saw my #4 bus coming, instead of trying to find a shady spot to sit on a rather windy day, I thought, why not return home and have my lunch there.  That roast pork is sliced and chopped with a large knife over a teflon board, and they are probably never washed.  If I microwaved the meat, that should kill most of the germs.

I could attempt to eat only half the chow fun, so I'll have another meal in the future.  I also purchased a bag of tamarind for all of $3, and passed them around during dinnertime at 15 Craigside. 

Tamarind looks and tastes like sour see moi (Chinese preserved plum):

The taste is appealingly distinctive, and nicely sour.  The seeds are large.  The reactions of residents here were charming.  First, a few never had tried them before, and most had their last experience when they were a child.  Surprising, as there are five large trees across the street and another one down Nuuanu Avenue at a pre-school:

Just another exciting day in Purgatory.

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Good news.  No major tropical ocean storm on Planet Earth:

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