Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_cordyline_fruticosa
Ti plant
Cordyline fruticosa
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About Ti plant
Cordyline fruticosa is a culturally important Polynesian introduction cultivated across tropical Pacific landscapes. It persists around gardens, former home sites, agroforests, and moist forest edges through stem growth and human propagation, with many named or visually distinct cultivars. Its primary atlas value is cultural and land-use context; it is not a native Hawaiian tree and is not identified by the reviewed source as a primary Kauaʻi invasive concern. Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist records Polynesian-introduced presence on Kauaʻi; current extent remains unassessed.
Kauaʻi evidence
Bishop Museum 2025 Checklist wide: Taxon=Cordyline fruticosa; Status=pol; K=K. Identification and ecological statements have the separately linked reviewed sources. The checklist establishes documented island presence; it does not establish current abundance or invasion extent. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 12,000 plants under Cordyline terminalis across 2 entries dated 1954. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Cordyline fruticosa
- Common names
- Ti plant
- Hawaiian names
- Kī
- Other names
- Kī · ti · Ti plant · Cordyline terminalis · Convallaria fruticosa · Asparagus terminalis · Cordyline fruticosa
- Record type
- Species or taxonomic group
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Polynesian introduction
- Conservation status
- Conservation priority; formal rank not listed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-05
- Evidence limits
- Current extent and population trajectory require refreshed surveys; public occurrence is island level only.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Gardens · Agroforest · Lowland and mesic cultural plantings
- Food and resource needs
- Light, water, nutrients, and suitable soil or substrate
- Reproduction
- Viable propagules and suitable establishment conditions
- Shelter
- Suitable soil, substrate, and vegetation structure
- Growth form
- Shrub treelet
Threats and conservation
- Threats
- Loss of cultivars, disease/pests, land-use change
- Conservation actions
- Cultivar documentation, cultural landscape mapping
- Monitoring
- Cultivar documentation, cultural landscape mapping
- Data gaps
- Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not assessed
- Seasonal description
- Cordyline fruticosa is a culturally important Polynesian introduction cultivated across tropical Pacific landscapes. It persists around gardens, former home sites, agroforests, and moist forest edges through stem growth and human propagation, with many named or visually distinct cultivars. Its primary atlas value is cultural and land-use context; it is not a native Hawaiian tree and is not identified by the reviewed source as a primary Kauaʻi invasive concern. Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist records Polynesian-introduced presence on Kauaʻi; current extent remains unassessed.
