NTBG completes Red List catalogue of endemic plants

Lobelia villosa (Campanulaceae, bellflowers) is restricted to Kauai’s summit bogs and steep exposed ridge lines. Bogs are an example of a threatened habitat that is often overlooked but contains many unique species only found there.

Hibiscadelphus woodii (Malvaceae). Discovered and described by NTBG staff, a narrow endemic restricted to the vertical cliffs of Kalalau valley. After going extinct–another colony was recently discovered by NTBG’s drone program.

Brighamia insignis (Campanulaceae, bellflowers). A Kauai cliff species once known from the Na Pali coast and Haupu Mountain range, the last wild individual of this species recently died. Fortunately, conservation efforts have produced thousands of plants and the speciesis used in horticulture around the world. However, the native pollinator, presumably a long-tongued native moth specialised in pollinating the long tubular flowers, appears to also be lost, so reintroduction would require manual pollination.

Hibiscus waimeae subspecies hannarae. I personally love the native Hibiscus species because they are somehow an essence of Hawaii and especially the white ones that have a sweet scent whereas most Hibiscus you can buy do not have any scent.

Lobelia villosa (Campanulaceae, bellflowers) is restricted to Kauai’s summit bogs and steep exposed ridge lines. Bogs are an example of a threatened habitat that is often overlooked but contains many unique species only found there.

Dubautia waialealae, endemic to Kauai, is Critically Endangered.

NTBG research biologist Ken Wood assesses Kaua‘i endemic plant species in the field for the IUCN Red List.

NAPALI — Researchers with the National Tropical Botanical Garden were devastated when the last known wild member of the endemic flowering plant Hibiscadelphus woodii was found dead in the Kalalau Valley in 2011.

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