Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_fraxinus_uhdei

Tropical Ash

Fraxinus uhdei

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About Tropical Ash

Tropical Ash (Fraxinus uhdei) 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 subtropical montane tree native from Mexico through Central America, where it occurs in moist forest settings including slopes and ravines. The Bishop Museum 2025 checklist records Fraxinus uhdei as naturalized on Kauaʻi, and Smithsonian 2026 corroborates the island record. This establishes wild persistence but does not quantify its current distribution, abundance, or ecological effects.

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. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 565 plants under Fraxinus uhdei across 3 entries dated 1927–1958. 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: Fraxinus uhdei
Common names: Tropical Ash · Shamel ash · Mexican ash
Other names: Fraxinus uhdei · Tropical ash · Shamel ash · Mexican ash
Record type: Species

Kauaʻi occurrence and status

Kauaʻi occurrence: Recorded on Kauaʻi
Origin: Introduced
Conservation status: Not yet assessed
Evidence date: 2026-10-06
Evidence limits: Current island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, reproductive distribution, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed.

Habitat and ecology

Habitats: Not yet assessed
Food and resource needs: Not yet assessed
Reproduction: The species is dioecious, so male and female flowers are borne on separate trees in branched panicles. Successful sexual reproduction therefore requires flowering trees of both sexes, pollen transfer, maturation of the single-seeded winged samaras, dispersal, and seedling establishment. Kauaʻi-specific flowering times, seed production, dispersal distances, and recruitment rates are unmeasured.
Shelter: Not yet assessed
Growth form: Tree

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: Tropical Ash (Fraxinus uhdei) 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 subtropical montane tree native from Mexico through Central America, where it occurs in moist forest settings including slopes and ravines. The Bishop Museum 2025 checklist records Fraxinus uhdei as naturalized on Kauaʻi, and Smithsonian 2026 corroborates the island record. This establishes wild persistence but does not quantify its current distribution, abundance, or ecological effects.

Sources and further reading

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