The Northeast Trades bring moisture to the high islands, but simply blow over the others, sucking moisture out of the ground, creating conditions suitable only for some hardy plants.
Most common and imposing of these are the organ-pipe cacti, rising up out of the undergrowth. Giving shape and a certain grandeur to the landscape, providing perches and lookout for kestrels and bright orange troupials.
Smaller pads of the prickly pear gather at their feet along with congregations of aloes, all hoarding moisture in their fleshy leaves and stems -- but another kind of plant altogether, a craggy legume the locals call "divi-divi," best defines the circumstances here. It is permanently bent to the southwest, leaning, almost falling over backwards, away from the prevailing trades. A plant truly sculpted by the wind.
