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.
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Sacramento Bur
Triumfetta semitriloba
An erect perennial subshrub with stellate-hairy young stems. Broad ovate-to-lanceolate leaves are commonly shallowly three-lobed, three-veined from the base and irregularly toothed. Small yellow flowers have narrow petals and sepals bearing
Turbinaria
Turbinaria ornata
limu kala-like brown algae is a brown alga in the Kauaʻi limu group. Its origin status is indigenous.
Yellow Alder
Turnera ulmifolia
An erect bushy herb or short-lived shrub with fine appressed hairs. Pointed lanceolate leaves have irregular crenate-serrate margins and paired basal glands. Flower stalks are almost wholly united to the leaf stalks, with leaf-like bracteol
Sea lettuce
Ulva lactuca
limu pālahalaha is a green alga in the Kauaʻi limu group. Its origin status is indigenous.
Aramina
Urena lobata
An erect-to-spreading subshrub with often purplish-red young branches and stellate hairs. Ovate leaves vary from unlobed to shallowly angled or lobed. Pink flowers have a conspicuous slightly curved pink staminal column and purple anthers a
California grass
Urochloa mutica
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
Blueberry
Vaccinium calycinum
ʻōhelo is a shrub in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
ʻŌhelo
Vaccinium dentatum
A decumbent-to-sprawling native shrub with leathery elliptic leaves, larger than those of Vaccinium reticulatum, and serrate margins. A representative red urn-like flower form has greenish lobes. Lanceolate calyx lobes exceed the calyx tube
ʻŌhelo
Vaccinium reticulatum
A rhizomatous native shrub with stiff erect shoots and small leathery ovate-to-obovate leaves. Margins range from sharply toothed to smooth and may roll inward. A representative red-flowered, red-fruited form bears urn-like tubular flowers
Sweet Acacia
Vachellia farnesiana
Sweet Acacia (Vachellia farnesiana) 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. A pantropical dr
Gum arabic tree
Vachellia nilotica
Gum arabic tree (Vachellia nilotica) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from Africa and the Middle East east to
Umbrella thorn
Vachellia planifrons
Umbrella thorn (Vachellia planifrons) 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 India and Sri Lanka in sea
Pāmakani
Viola chamissoniana
A slender few-branched or unbranched native shrub whose lower decumbent stems may root. Pointed delta-shaped to heart-shaped toothed leaves cluster toward shoot ends. White flowers tinged purple, especially near the base, have a sac-like lo
Viola helenae
Viola helenae
A small erect unbranched native subshrub with narrow lanceolate-to-elliptic leaves clustered on the upper stem. Leaf margins have remote minute hardened teeth and the narrow stipules have remote glandular teeth. A representative pale-lavend
Kauai violet
Viola kauaensis
none_recorded is a herb in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Viola wailenalenae
Viola wailenalenae
A low usually unbranched native subshrub with slightly fleshy elliptic-ovate leaves clustered at shoot ends. Close hardened teeth curve inward along the margins. Thin triangular stipules have a conspicuously fringed edge. White flowers have
Malayan Teak
Vitex pinnata
Malayan Teak (Vitex pinnata) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to South and Southeast Asia to Malesia in seaso
Beach Vitex
Vitex rotundifolia
A low branched native shrub with prostrate stems rooting at nodes and forming spreading mats. Mostly simple rounded-to-obovate, smooth-edged leaves are pale green above and densely gray-white woolly beneath. Narrow flower clusters bear blui
Smooth Tinderwood
Volkameria glabra
Smooth Tinderwood (Volkameria glabra) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. Native from eastern and southern Africa to western Indian Ocean islands, chiefly in seasonally dry woodland,
Seaside Clerodendrum
Volkameria inermis
An evergreen erect shrub or climber with opposite stalked oval-to-narrowly-lanceolate leaves. Mature blades are hairless, smooth-edged and inconspicuously veined. Small groups of fragrant white flowers occur at branch ends. Drop-shaped drup
ʻUhaloa
Waltheria indica
A rigid-stemmed erect-to-decumbent perennial subshrub, velvety with stellate hairs throughout. Short-stalked wrinkled ovate-to-lanceolate leaves have crenate-serrate margins and paler undersides. Dense axillary groups carry small fragrant y
California Fan Palm
Washingtonia filifera var. filifera
California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera var. filifera) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to desert oases, w
Willowmore Cedar
Widdringtonia schwarzii
Willowmore Cedar (Widdringtonia schwarzii) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Endemic to the Baviaanskloof and Kouga M
Wikstroemia furcata
Wikstroemia furcata
Wikstroemia furcata (Wikstroemia furcata) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Oʻahu False Ohelo
Wikstroemia oahuensis
Oʻahu False Ohelo (Wikstroemia oahuensis) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Often sparsely branched shrub or small tree to 4–6 m, with slender to robust branches and bark sometimes marked by whitish lenticels near p
Wikstroemia skottsbergiana
Wikstroemia skottsbergiana
Wikstroemia skottsbergiana (Wikstroemia skottsbergiana) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
ʻĀkia
Wikstroemia uva-ursi
A densely branched prostrate-to-sprawling native shrub with appressed-hairy young twigs. Small thick firm elliptic-to-rounded leaves are dark-to-grayish green above and paler beneath. Clusters of yellow tubular calyces develop into bright-r
ʻiliau
Wilkesia gymnoxiphium
ʻiliau is a shrub rosette in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Dwarf Iliau
Wilkesia hobdyi
A low native perennial shrub freely branching near its base. Narrow sword-shaped leaves occur in whorls of usually seven to nine and join into a sticky sheathing cylinder below. Loose elongated flower systems have whorled stalks carrying cr
Xylosma crenata
Xylosma crenata
Xylosma crenata (Xylosma crenata) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi brushholly
Xylosma hawaiensis
Hawaiʻi brushholly (Xylosma hawaiensis) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Spanish Bayonet
Yucca aloifolia
Spanish Bayonet (Yucca aloifolia) 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 coastal
Kāwaʻu
Zanthoxylum dipetalum
Kāwaʻu (Zanthoxylum dipetalum) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi pricklyash
Zanthoxylum hawaiiense
Hawaiʻi pricklyash (Zanthoxylum hawaiiense) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Kauaʻi Pricklyash
Zanthoxylum kauaense
Kauaʻi Pricklyash (Zanthoxylum kauaense) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Small to medium tree usually 3–15 m tall, with brown to gray-brown bark and hairless or finely hairy new growth.
