Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_citharexylum_spinosum
Fiddlewood
Citharexylum spinosum
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About Fiddlewood
Fiddlewood (Citharexylum spinosum) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A Caribbean-to-northern-South-American shrub or tree of rocky thickets and woodlands, also occurring in wet tropical settings. Bishop Museum documents naturalized Kauaʻi presence; public geography remains island-level.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Citharexylum spinosum
- Common names
- Fiddlewood
- Other names
- Citharexylum spinosum · Fiddlewood · Citharexylum fruticosum · Citharexylum quadrangulare · Citharexylum cinereum
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-05
- Evidence limits
- Current extent is unassessed; public locality is island level only.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Not yet assessed
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- confirmed tree form shrub overlap
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Fiddlewood (Citharexylum spinosum) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A Caribbean-to-northern-South-American shrub or tree of rocky thickets and woodlands, also occurring in wet tropical settings. Bishop Museum documents naturalized Kauaʻi presence; public geography remains island-level.