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| Cyanea kuhihewa Lammers
in Rønsted & Wood, 2020.
DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10099
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Abstract
Cyanea kuhihewa is a Hawaiian plant thought to be extinct but recently rediscovered. Oceanic island plants are uniquely adapted to their environment. Globally, many island species are now threatened needing extensive conservation management to survive. We highlight this global conservation challenge and provide an example from Hawai'i of how we may safeguard critically endangered species from extinction.
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Cyanea kuhihewa Lammers.
(a) Habitat North shore Kaua'i. (b) Map of Kaua'i showing Limahuli Valley. (c–e) Habit and flowers.
Photographs and map (a,b) by Ken Wood; (c‐e) by David Lorence
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CONCLUDING REMARKS:
The flora of Hawai'i is a hotspot of endemism, but the uniquely adapted native flora is highly vulnerable to disturbance, and losing just a few populations may mean losing one or more species. C. kuhihewa is one of about 85 taxa in this genus of charismatic Hawaiian lobeliads, most of which are uniquely adapted to a single island or are even narrower endemics from a single mountain or valley. About half of the genus is considered threatened, most of them with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild. Reports of rediscovery of species previously thought to be extinct are always encouraging news, and we may still be able to safeguard C. kuhihewa through the ongoing combination of monitoring, weed and predator control, seed‐banking, propagation, and out‐planting.
Nina Rønsted and Kenneth R. Wood. 2020. Cyanea kuhihewa: Rediscovering One of Hawai'i's Rarest Trees. PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET. DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10099
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