A living guide to Kauaʻi

Trees, Plants, Algae & Limu of Kauaʻi

Explore the island’s native and introduced species, habitats, watersheds and conservation work. Each record connects its description, images and sources with the interactive Atlas.

Page 12 of 13

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  Manyleaf Senna

  Senna multijuga

  Manyleaf Senna (Senna multijuga) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. Native from Mexico through tropical South America and associated with wet tropical forest edges and disturbed vege

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  Coffee Senna

  Senna occidentalis

  An erect herb or woody-based subshrub with pinnate leaves, usually four to five pairs of pointed broadly lanceolate-to-ovate leaflets. A sessile nectary lies at the petiole base. Yellow flowers develop into erect-to-ascending flat linear po

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  Senna pendula

  Senna pendula

  A climbing or weakly erect shrub with pinnate leaves usually bearing three to six pairs of rounded obovate leaflets, larger toward the tip. Nectaries occur between the first and sometimes second leaflet pairs. Golden-yellow flowers develop

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  Smooth Senna

  Senna septemtrionalis

  Smooth Senna (Senna septemtrionalis) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native from Mex

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  Glaucous Senna

  Senna surattensis

  Glaucous Senna (Senna surattensis) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native from tropi

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  Coast redwood

  Sequoia sempervirens

  Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to the humid maritime belt of coastal northern and

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  Egyptian Rattlepod

  Sesbania sesban

  Egyptian Rattlepod (Sesbania sesban) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native across t

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  Oʻahu Riverhemp

  Sesbania tomentosa

  Oʻahu Riverhemp (Sesbania tomentosa) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Densely silky shrub with sprawling branches, sometimes an erect small tree 2.5–6 m tall.

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  Red-flowered Sida

  Sida ciliaris

  A low trailing perennial with a woody taproot and short stems covered in appressed stellate hairs. Small oblong-to-oblanceolate leaves have teeth near their tips and hairy undersides. Terminal flowers have orange-to-salmon petals, often pur

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  Sida cordifolia

  Sida cordifolia

  An erect velvety subshrub with dense whitish-to-yellowish stellate hairs. Serrate ovate-to-oblong leaves generally have shallow heart-shaped bases. Pale-yellow flowers develop into brownish wheel-like fruits, usually eight to twelve segment

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  Golden Mallow

  Sida fallax

  ʻilima is a shrub herb in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is indigenous.

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  Sida planicaulis

  Sida planicaulis

  An erect-to-spreading subshrub with alternate leaves in two ranks. Lanceolate-to-ovate blades have finely serrate margins almost to the rounded unequal base and narrow curved ribbed stipules. A representative light-orange flower form with y

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  Cuba Jute

  Sida rhombifolia

  An erect subshrub with short-stalked rhombic-to-elliptic leaves, toothed in the upper part and smooth toward the wedge-shaped base. Solitary axillary yellow flowers grow on slender stalks with ribbed calyces. Small wheel-like fruits usually

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  Prickly Sida

  Sida spinosa

  A small erect herb or subshrub with fine stellate hairs and narrowly oblong-to-ovate, serrate-to-crenate leaves. Each slender stipule has a short basal tubercle. Small pale-yellow flowers develop into fruits of five reticulate segments, eac

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  Sidastrum micranthum

  Sidastrum micranthum

  A densely yellowish stellate-hairy herb or shrub with pointed broad ovate leaves and shallow heart-shaped bases. Leaves become smaller within narrow branched flower systems. Tiny pale-yellow flowers have a short projecting staminal column.

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  Keahi

  Sideroxylon polynesicum

  Keahi (Sideroxylon polynesicum) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands.

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  Silene lanceolata

  Silene lanceolata

  A low erect-to-ascending native subshrub with narrow oblanceolate-to-linear leaves and hairs near their bases. Open branched cymes carry white flowers with notched petal blades and small paired scales at their bases. The five-toothed calyx

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  Cockroach Berry

  Solanum capsicoides

  A short-lived prickly shrub with broad ovate leaves divided into five to seven shallow lobes. White deeply divided flowers have pale-yellow anthers cohering in a cone. Flattened rounded fruits ripen bright orange-red, with whitish dryish fl

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  Māmane

  Sophora chrysophylla

  Māmane (Sophora chrysophylla) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.

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  Large-leaved Kōwhai

  Sophora tetraptera

  Large-leaved Kōwhai (Sophora tetraptera) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to New Zealand's North Island in te

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  African tulip tree

  Spathodea campanulata

  Spathodea campanulata is native to tropical Africa and introduced in Hawaiʻi. A Hawaiʻi DLNR management plan names it among invasive plants of management concern in a Kauaʻi forest reserve, supporting documented island presence while not es

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  Spermacoce ocymifolia

  Spermacoce ocymifolia

  An erect-to-spreading perennial herb or subshrub with faintly four-ribbed stems and opposite narrow elliptic-to-lanceolate leaves. Bristle-bearing stipular sheaths surround dense axillary whorls of small white funnel flowers. Fruits split i

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  Australian Tree Fern

  Sphaeropteris cooperi

  Sphaeropteris cooperi is an eastern Australian tree fern introduced through horticulture and invasive in Hawaiian rain forests. DLNR’s Kauaʻi forest plan lists it as a management concern and reports mapping work by the Kauaʻi Watershed Alli

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  Creeping Oxeye

  Sphagneticola trilobata

  Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.

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  Bog moss

  Sphagnum spp.

  none_recorded is a moss in the Kauaʻi mosses and liverworts group. Its origin status is needs taxonomic review.

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  Ambarella

  Spondias dulcis

  Ambarella (Spondias dulcis) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to eastern Malesia and the Santa Cruz Islands. K

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  Yellow Mombin

  Spondias mombin

  Yellow Mombin (Spondias mombin) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to tropical America in lowland moist forest,

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  Seashore dropseed

  Sporobolus virginicus

  akiaki is a grass in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is indigenous.

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  Branched Porterweed

  Stachytarpheta australis

  A much-branched woody-based perennial with opposite ovate-to-elliptic leaves and crenate-serrate margins. Long slender spikes carry small pale-blue flowers. Fruiting calyces lie partly embedded in grooves of the spike axis; small mature fru

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  Changeable Vervain

  Stachytarpheta mutabilis

  A stout branched perennial herb or subshrub, densely hairy throughout. Opposite ovate-to-oblong leaves have rough wrinkled upper surfaces, woolly undersides and forward-directed marginal teeth. Stout erect hairy spikes carry showy magenta-t

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  Zulu Giant

  Stapelia gigantea

  A dense low clump-forming stem succulent with sharply four-angled fleshy shoots and tiny triangular leaf rudiments. Large spreading star flowers arise near the stem bases. A representative pale-yellow corolla has transverse red-brown wrinkl

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  Marmalade Bush

  Streptosolen jamesonii

  A much-branched evergreen shrub, sometimes climbing, with small dark-green wrinkled ovate-to-elliptic leaves and smooth margins. Numerous terminal flower clusters carry shining orange-yellow to orange-red trumpets with spirally twisted lowe

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  Brazilian Lucerne

  Stylosanthes guianensis

  A much-branched perennial subshrub with woody lower stems and three narrow lanceolate-to-oblong leaflets per leaf. Clasping stipular sheaths have pointed teeth. Bristly axillary and terminal flower heads carry small pale-yellow pea flowers

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  Pūkiawe

  Styphelia tameiameiae

  pūkiawe is a shrub in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is indigenous.

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  Japanese Pagoda Tree

  Styphnolobium japonicum

  Japanese Pagoda Tree (Styphnolobium japonicum) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to China in temperate woodlan

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  West Indian Mahogany

  Swietenia mahagoni

  West Indian Mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to southern Florida, the Bahamas,

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  Turpentine Tree

  Syncarpia glomulifera

  Turpentine Tree (Syncarpia glomulifera) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Native to eastern Australia in wet and seasonally dry forest. Persistent bark, dense flower heads, and many-seeded w

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  Java plum

  Syzygium cumini

  Syzygium cumini is a South Asian tree introduced for fruit and shade and now naturalized in Hawaiʻi. DLNR identifies Java plum among common nonnative trees in low-elevation Kauaʻi forest used by Kauaʻi ʻelepaio, directly supporting island p

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  Rose apple

  Syzygium jambos

  Rose apple (Syzygium jambos) 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 wet-tropical tree occurring in open mixed forest and r

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  Mountain Apple

  Syzygium malaccense

  Mountain Apple (Syzygium malaccense) is a Polynesian-introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is Polynesian-introduced; current extent is unasses

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  Hawaiian syzygium

  Syzygium sandwicense

  Hawaiian syzygium (Syzygium sandwicense) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.

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  Lilly Pilly

  Syzygium smithii

  Lilly Pilly (Syzygium smithii) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to eastern Australia, from Queensland through

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  Pink Trumpet Tree

  Tabebuia heterophylla

  Pink Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia heterophylla) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native to

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  Pale Pink Trumpet Tree

  Tabebuia pallida

  Pale Pink Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia pallida) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native to

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  Pink Trumpet Tree

  Tabebuia rosea

  Pink Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia rosea) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to Mexico through Central America to nort

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  Tamarind

  Tamarindus indica

  Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to tropical Africa in seasonally dry woodland,

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  Bald Cypress

  Taxodium distichum

  Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. The accepted broad species range in Kew extends f

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  Montezuma Cypress

  Taxodium mucronatum

  Montezuma Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to southern Texas through Mexico to

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  Teak

  Tectona grandis

  Teak (Tectona grandis) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to India through mainland Southeast Asia in seasonall

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  ʻAuhuhu

  Tephrosia purpurea

  A short-lived subshrub with pinnate leaves of seven to fifteen or more narrow oblanceolate-to-oblong leaflets, finely hairy beneath. A representative pale-pink pea-flowered form bears long racemes. Slender beaked pods curve slightly upward

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  Tropical Almond

  Terminalia catappa

  Tropical Almond (Terminalia catappa) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native across t

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  East Indian Almond

  Terminalia myriocarpa

  East Indian Almond (Terminalia myriocarpa) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native fr

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  Portia tree

  Thespesia populnea

  Portia tree (Thespesia populnea) is indigenous in the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Shrub or tree usually 5–10 m tall, sometimes taller, with gray shallowly fissured bark.

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  Cane / Glory Bush (tentative ID)

  Tibouchina spp. (except T. multiflora)

  This card covers the Tibouchina management group listed by KISC, excluding T. multiflora. It represents several possible species rather than one accepted botanical taxon. Some former Tibouchina species now belong to Pleroma or Chaetogastra.

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  Tree Marigold

  Tithonia diversifolia

  A tall aromatic shrub with very soft wood, hairy young growth and large palmately three-to-five-lobed leaves. Large terminal heads have numerous yellow rays around a disk. Flattened hairy achenes carry two persistent awns and a ring of smal

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  Australian Red Cedar

  Toona ciliata

  Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native from the

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  Olonā

  Touchardia latifolia

  olonā is a shrub in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.

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  ʻŌpuhe

  Touchardia sandwicensis

  ʻŌpuhe (Touchardia sandwicensis) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.

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  Wandering Inchplant

  Tradescantia fluminensis

  Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.

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  Oriental Trema

  Trema orientale

  Oriental Trema (Trema orientale) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native across the t