Rare Plant Species
Today Hawaiʻi is often referred to as the “Endangered Species Capital of the World.” More than 100 plant taxa have already gone extinct, and over 200 are considered to have 50 or fewer individuals remaining in the wild. Officially, 366 of the Hawaiian plant taxa are listed as Endangered or Threatened by Federal and State governments, and an additional 48 species are Proposed as Endangered. While only comprising less than one percent of the Unites States land mass, Hawaiʻi contains 44 percent of the nation’s Endangered and Threatened plant species.
The goals of conservation actions are to not only protect current populations, but to also establish further populations to reduce the risk of extinction. In addition to common statewide and island conservation actions, specific actions include surveying historic ranges for surviving populations, augmenting wild population and establishing new populations in safe harbors, monitoring for insect damage and plant diseases, developing research, and more to better manage and restore plant populations.
Below you can find species profile pages for a small selection of rare plant species in Hawaiʻi. Further down on this page we also have 177 species fact sheets for rare plant taxa identified in our State Wildlife Action Plan.
Species profiles for selected rare plant species
Rare plant fact sheets from the State Wildlife Action Plan
The Hawaiʻi State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) includes rare plants with conservation needs. There are 177 fact sheets, which provide information on species described on our SWAP pages as genetic safety net species.
- Abutilon eremitopetalum
- Achyranthes mutica
- Alectryon macrococcus var. auwahiensis
- Amaranthus brownii
- Astelia waialealae
- Bidens hillebrandiana subsp. hillebrandiana
- Brighamia insignis
- Caesalpinia kavaiensis
- Chamaesyce eleanoriae
- Clermontia oblongifolia ssp. brevipes
- Clermontia oblongifolia subsp. mauiensis
- Clermontia peleana ssp. peleana
- Clermontia pyrularia
- Cyanea asarifolia
- Cyanea crispa
- Cyanea dunbariae
- Cyanea eleeleensis
- Cyanea gibsonii
- Cyanea glabra
- Cyanea grimesiana subsp. grimesiana
- Cyanea grimesiana subsp. obatae
- Cyanea hamatiflora subsp. carlsonii
- Cyanea kolekoleensis
- Cyanea kuhihewa
- Cyanea lobata
- Cyanea magnicalyx
- Cyanea maritae
- Cyanea munroi
- Cyanea obtusa
- Cyanea pinnatifida
- Cyanea platyphylla
- Cyanea procera
- Cyanea profuga
- Cyanea purpurellifolia
- Cyanea shipmanii
- Cyanea solanacea
- Cyanea stictophylla
- Cyanea st-johnii
- Cyanea superba subsp. superba
- Cyanea truncata
- Cyanea undulata
- Cyperus trachysanthos
- Cyrtandra gracilis
- Cyrtandra halawensis
- Cyrtandra hematos
- Cyrtandra kaulantha
- Cyrtandra paliku
- Cyrtandra polyantha
- Cyrtandra sessilis
- Cyrtandra viridiflora
- Cyrtandra waiolani
- Delissea niihauensis subsp. kauaiensis
- Delissea rhytidosperma
- Delissea rivularis
- Delissea subcordata
- Delissea undulata subsp. undulata
- Diellia erecta f. alexandri
- Diellia mannii
- Diellia pallida
- Diplazium molokaiense
- Doryopteris angelica
- Dryopteris podosorus var. podosorus
- Dubautia kenwoodii
- Dubautia pauciflorula
- Gahnia lanaiensis
- Gardenia brighamii
- Gouania vitifolia
- Hedyotis cookiana
- Hedyotis coriacea
- Hedyotis haupuensis
- Hedyotis mannii
- Hedyotis schlechtendahliana var. remyi
- Hedyotis st.-johnii
- Hesperomannia arbuscula
- Hibiscadelphus distans
- Hibiscadelphus giffardianus
- Hibiscadelphus hualalaiensis
- Hibiscadelphus woodii
- Hibiscus brackenridgei subsp. mokuleianus
- Hibiscus brackenridgei subsp. molokaiana
- Hibiscus clayi
- Huperzia mannii
- Huperzia nutans
- Huperzia stemmermanniae
- Isodendrion pyrifolium
- Kanaloa kahoolawensis
- Kokia cookei
- Kokia drynarioides
- Labordia cyrtandrae
- Labordia lydgatei
- Labordia sp. nov
- Labordia tinifolia var. wahiawaensis
- Labordia triflora
- Lobelia monostachya
- Lysimachia filifolia
- Lysimachia iniki
- Lysimachia lydgatei
- Lysimachia maxima
- Lysimachia pendens
- Lysimachia scopulensis
- Melicope adscendens
- Melicope balloui
- Melicope cruciata
- Melicope degeneri
- Melicope haupuensis
- Melicope hiiakae
- Melicope knudsenii
- Melicope lydgatei
- Melicope mucronulata
- Melicope quadrangularis
- Melicope zahlbruckneri
- Myrsine mezii
- Neraudia ovata
- Nothocestrum peltatum
- Panicum niihauense
- Peperomia subpetiolata
- Phyllostegia brevidens
- Phyllostegia hirsuta
- Phyllostegia hispida
- Phyllostegia kaalaensis
- Phyllostegia knudsenii
- Phyllostegia mannii
- Phyllostegia mollis
- Phyllostegia parviflora var. glabriuscula
- Phyllostegia parviflora var. lydgatei
- Phyllostegia racemosa
- Phyllostegia renovans
- Phyllostegia waimeae
- Phyllostegia warshaueri
- Phyllostegia wawrana
- Pittosporum halophilum
- Platanthera holochila
- Pritchardia affinis
- Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii
- Pritchardia glabrata
- Prtichardia munroi
- Pritchardia schattaueri
- Pritchardia viscosa
- Psychotria grandiflora
- Psychotria hexandra subsp. oahuensis
- Remya mauiensis
- Remya montgomeryi
- Schiedea adamantis
- Schiedea attenuata
- Schiedea hawaiiensis
- Schiedea helleri
- Schiedea jacobii
- Schiedea kaalae
- Schiedea kauaiensis
- Schiedea nuttallii
- Schiedea obovata
- Schiedea spergulina var. leiopoda
- Schiedea viscosa
- Sesbania tomentosa
- Sicyos alba
- Sicyos lanceoloideus
- Silene alexandri
- Silene hawaiiensis
- Silene lanceolata
- Solanum incompletum
- Solanum sandwicense
- Stenogyne bifida
- Stenogyne campanulata
- Stenogyne kanehoana
- Tetramolopium lepidotum subsp. lepidotum
- Tetramolopium remyi
- Tetraplasandra bisattenuata
- Tetraplasandra flynii
- Trematolobelia singularis
- Urera kaalae
- Vicia menziesii
- Viola helenae
- Viola kauaiensis var. wahiawaensis
- Viola lanaiensis
- Wikstroemia skottsbergiana
- Xylosma crenatum
- Zanthoxylum dipetalum var. tomentosum