Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_cestrum_diurnum
Day cestrum
Cestrum diurnum
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About Day cestrum
Day cestrum (Cestrum diurnum) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A shrub reaching about two metres, with alternate, smooth-edged oblong leaves. Slender white tubular flowers occur in stalked clusters at leaf axils and have a pronounced daytime scent. The round fleshy fruits ripen black and measure roughly one centimetre across. Its foliage has a documented poisoning pathway in grazing animals. A Florida cattle case report describes mineral-metabolism disruption and tissue calcification. This supports monitoring exposure where established shrubs overlap grazing; no Kauai poisoning case or island rate is asserted.
Kauaʻi evidence
Established island occurrence follows the Bishop Museum checklist. Diagnostic morphology follows Smithsonian Hawaiian Flora; accepted identity follows Kew WCVP. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Cestrum diurnum
- Common names
- day cestrum · Chinese inkberry · day jessamine
- Hawaiian names
- mākāhala
- Other names
- Cestrum diurnum · day cestrum · Chinese inkberry · day jessamine · mākāhala · Cestrum album · Cestrum diurnum var. fasciatiflorum · Cestrum diurnum var. fastigiatum · Cestrum diurnum var. marcianum · Cestrum diurnum var. odontospermum · Cestrum diurnum var. portoricense · Cestrum diurnum var. tinctorium · Cestrum diurnum var. venenatum · Cestrum elongatum · Cestrum fastigiatum · Cestrum odontospermum · Cestrum pallidum · Cestrum tinctorium · Cestrum venenatum
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-07
- Evidence limits
- Current extent and island effect sizes are unassessed. Public occurrence remains island-level only.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Local pollinators, flowering schedules, seedling establishment and recruitment rates are not independently assessed.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or subshrub
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Established shrubs and recruitment in grazing habitat; Evidence of grazing exposure; Verified veterinary incidents where exposure is documented. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
- Data gaps
- Current island population extent and trend · Quantified local environmental effects
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Day cestrum (Cestrum diurnum) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A shrub reaching about two metres, with alternate, smooth-edged oblong leaves. Slender white tubular flowers occur in stalked clusters at leaf axils and have a pronounced daytime scent. The round fleshy fruits ripen black and measure roughly one centimetre across. Its foliage has a documented poisoning pathway in grazing animals. A Florida cattle case report describes mineral-metabolism disruption and tissue calcification. This supports monitoring exposure where established shrubs overlap grazing; no Kauai poisoning case or island rate is asserted.