Kauna'oa Devil Dodder Abides Around Magnum's Day I Met the Devil

Summary: Kauna'oa devil dodder accesses areas around Magnum's Day I Met the Devil Dec. 13, 2019, and avails itself of another plant's energy, fluids and reserves.

flowering habit, kauna'oa devil dodder (Cuscuta sandwichiana); Kanaha Beach, northern coastal Central Maui, Hawai'i; Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009, 14:16:03: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental

Kauna'oa devil dodder abounds around areas accessible to Magnum PI action drama television series episode Day I Met the Devil Dec. 13, 2019, and afflicts other plants as aggrievedly as any devil.

Director Kristin Windell and writer Alfredo Barrios Jr. broach bad behavior that always boded badly for Robin's Nest buddies whenever episode titles bore the word "day." The series' 30th episode overall considers cruelty comparable to those that challenged first-season 13th, 15th and 20th episodes Jan. 21, Feb. 18, and Apr. 1, 2019. Season Two's 11th episode dredges dastardly deeds as dreadful as Day of the Viper, Day the Past Came Back and The Day It All Came Together.

One enlightening day enables Juliet Higgins (Perdita Weeks), Robin's Nest majordomo (from Latin māior domus, "household principal"), to ensnare the viperous executioner of her fiancé Richard.

One forthright day Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez), Robin's Nest security consultant, figures out the facts behind Hannah (Jordana Brewster) furnishing the Taliban with American mission details.

Season One's 10th episode, Bad Day to Be a Hero, Dec. 10, 2018, got Magnum buddy Rick Wright (Zachary Knighton) consolation plant, missing money, no girl. Kauna'oa Hawaiian dodder harms chlorophyll-making hosts such as noni Hawaiian beach mulberry (Morinda citrifolia) and helps head (lei o ka polo) and neck (lei ā'ī) lei-making. The Convolvulaceae (from Latin convolvulus, "caterpillar" and -āceae, "resembling") morning glory family member, identified by Jacques Choisy (April 5, 1799-Nov. 26, 1859), increases asexually and sexually.

Kauna'oa Hawaiian dodder journeys into annual life cycles asexually as vegetative cuttings that jostle host stems or sexually as angled, brown-red, elliptical seeds from fruit capsules.

Kauna'oa Hawaiian dodder, known as devil's gut, strangleweed and witch's shoelace, keeps 0.043- to 0.079-inch (1.1- to 2-millimeter) by 0.039- to 0.067-inch (1- to 1.7-millimeter) seeds.

Kauna'oa Hawaiian dodder lodges semi-spherical, white 0.098- to 0.138-inch (2.5- to 3.5-millimeter) by 0.118- to 0.158-inch (3- to 4-millimeter) fruits with two-seeded, 0.063-inch (0.159-centimeter) diameter capsules. Orange-yellow 0.079- to 0.197-inch- (2- to 5-millimeter-) long stems maintain 0.063-inch (0.159-centimeter) inflorescences of three to seven, even 11, non-fragrant, waxy, white, 0.197-inch- (5-millimeter-) long flowers. It nets scaly, triangular, 0.039- to 0.063-inch (1- to 1.6-millimeter) by 0.028- to 0.039-inch (0.7- to 1-millimeter) bracts and, around non-overlapping petals, brown-yellow, cup-shaped, sepal-whorled calyxes.

Kauna'oa Hawaiian dodder offers 0.019- to 0.028-inch (0.5- to 0.7-millimeter) by 0.016- to 0.019-inch (0.4- to 0.5-millimeter) anthers and 0.019- to 0.028-inch (0.2- to 0.7-millimeter) stamens.

Hooked-stem, rootless kauna'oa Hawaiian dodder possesses 0.00087- to 0.00108-inch (0.5- to 1.1-millimeter) diameter pollen grains and 0.019- to 0.043-inch- (0.5- to 1.1-millimeter-) long ovaries and styluses.

The scientifically named Cuscuta sandwichiana (from Arabic كشوث, "tangled hair" and Latin sandwichiana, "Sandwich Islands") queues up 2-plus-inch (5.08-plus-centimeter) heights, 2-plus-foot (0.61-plus-meter) widths, 10-foot (3.05-meter) lengths. The drought-, heat-, salt-, wind-tolerant vine ravages Hawaiian bayhops (pōhuehue, Ipomoea pes-caprae), fanpetals ('ilima, Sida fallax), oval-leaf clustervines (pā'ūohi'iaka, Jacquemontia sandwicensis)and saltgrasses ('aki'aki, Sporobolus virginicus). Lāna'i's official flower since 1923 survives from sea level through 985-foot (300.23-meter) altitudes on cinder-, coral- and sandy-soiled Hawai'i, Kana'i, Lāna'i, Maui, Moloka'i, Ni'ihau and O'ahu.

Perhaps Robin's Nest Doberman Pinscher guards Apollo and Zeus turn up heavenly flowered, hellishly hooked kauna'oa Hawaiian dodder during their treks through kauna'oa kahakai ("seashore dodder").

(left to right) Orville "Rick" Wright (Zachary Knighton), Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg (Christopher Thornton) and Theodore "TC" Calvin (Stephen Hill) in CBS-TV's Magnum P.I. season 2 episode 11, Day I Met the Devil: Magnum P.I. @MagnumPICBS, via Facebook Dec. 13, 2019

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

flowering habit, kauna'oa devil dodder (Cuscuta sandwichiana); Kanaha Beach, northern coastal Central Maui, Hawai'i; Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009, 14:16:03: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental @ http://www.starrenvironmental.com/images/image/?q=24341599924; Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24341599924/

(left to right) Orville "Rick" Wright (Zachary Knighton), Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg (Christopher Thornton) and Theodore "TC" Calvin (Stephen Hill) in CBS-TV's Magnum P.I. season 2 episode 11, Day I Met the Devil: Magnum P.I. @MagnumPICBS, via Facebook Dec. 13, 2019, @ https://www.facebook.com/MagnumPICBS/posts/488225161822178

For further information:

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