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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  Hoop pine

  Araucaria cunninghamii

  Hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival.

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  Norfolk Island pine

  Araucaria heterophylla

  Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Endemic to Norfolk Island and nearby P

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  Klinki Pine

  Araucaria hunsteinii

  Klinki Pine (Araucaria hunsteinii) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts Araucaria hunsteinii as a Papua New Guinea tree of the wet tropical biome. It is a lower- to high-montane for

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  Coast Araucaria

  Araucaria luxurians

  Coast Araucaria (Araucaria luxurians) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts Araucaria luxurians as a New Caledonian tree of the wet tropical biome. It is usually associated with rock

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  Mountain Araucaria

  Araucaria montana

  Mountain Araucaria (Araucaria montana) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts Araucaria montana as a New Caledonian tree of the wet tropical biome. It usually grows from about 500 to

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  Boise Araucaria

  Araucaria nemorosa

  Boise Araucaria (Araucaria nemorosa) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts Araucaria nemorosa as a southeastern New Caledonian tree of the wet tropical biome. It is chiefly a low-ele

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  Hilo holly

  Ardisia crenata

  Hilo holly (Ardisia crenata) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A small upright shrub reaching about 1.5 metres, with branching concentrated in flowering shoots. Its firm alternate leaves have wavy, rolled edges. Small pale flow

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  Shoebutton ardisia

  Ardisia elliptica

  Shoebutton ardisia (Ardisia elliptica) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A hairless branched shrub reaching about four metres. Alternate leaves widen toward their tips and have smooth edges. Small pale lavender flowers occur in

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  Shoebutton Ardisia

  Ardisia solanacea

  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.

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  Wild Areca Palm

  Areca triandra

  Wild Areca Palm (Areca triandra) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. A shade-tolerant wet-tropical palm that expands by basal suckers into compact clusters. Its cultivated Kauaʻi presence does

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  Red Crownshaft Palm

  Areca vestiaria

  Red Crownshaft Palm (Areca vestiaria) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. A wet-tropical understory and lower-canopy palm adapted to humid forest, sometimes using stilt roots for support on un

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  Greensword

  Argyroxiphium grayanum

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

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  Climbing Ylang-ylang

  Artabotrys hexapetalus

  A climbing shrub with oblong to broadly lance-shaped leaves and persistent hooked flowering stalks that attach to supporting vegetation. Fragrant flowers have six greenish-to-yellowish petals in two whorls. Clusters of pointed, ovoid fleshy

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  Oʻahu Wormwood

  Artemisia australis

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

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  ʻĀhinahina

  Artemisia kauaiensis

  ʻĀhinahina (Artemisia kauaiensis) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A small, broadly branching subshrub with numerous low to upright stems, usually 15–40 centimetres long. Gray-green leaves divide deeply into fine segments. Sma

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  Breadfruit

  Artocarpus altilis

  ʻUlu is a Polynesian-introduced food tree and a central component of Pacific agroforestry rather than a native Hawaiian forest species. Most Hawaiian cultivars are maintained by people through vegetative propagation, and deep soils, moistur

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  Jackfruit

  Artocarpus heterophyllus

  Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Native to southwestern India and characteristic of humid tropical forest and long-established agroforestry systems. It

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  Giant reed

  Arundo donax

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

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  Limu kohu complex

  Asparagopsis taxiformis

  limu kohu is a red alga in the Kauaʻi limu group. Its origin status is indigenous.

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  Chinese Violet

  Asystasia intrusa

  A branching perennial herb or subshrub with erect, ascending or scrambling shoots and smooth-edged ovate leaves. Lax racemes carry small white, two-lipped tubular flowers with a large violet-to-purple patch on the lower central lobe. Erect

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  Water hyssop

  Bacopa monnieri

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

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  Mahal Bamboo

  Bambusa longispiculata

  Mahal Bamboo (Bambusa longispiculata) is a post-contact introduced woody bamboo documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts the species as native from Assam to Myanmar and primarily associated with the wet tropical biome.

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  Bengal Bamboo

  Bambusa tulda

  Bengal Bamboo (Bambusa tulda) is a post-contact introduced woody bamboo documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts the species as native from the Indian subcontinent through Yunnan and Indo-China, primarily in the wet tro

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  Punting-pole Bamboo

  Bambusa tuldoides

  Punting-pole Bamboo (Bambusa tuldoides) is a post-contact introduced woody bamboo documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts the species as native from southern China to Peninsular Malaysia and primarily wet-tropical. The

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  Philippine Violet

  Barleria cristata

  An erect, branching perennial shrub with hairy stems and pointed elliptic to narrowly ovate leaves, dark green above and paler below. Violet, pink or white funnel flowers are accompanied by slender spiny bracts and two large outer calyx lob

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  Coral Creeper

  Barleria repens

  A trailing or scrambling subshrub with elliptic to somewhat obovate leaves. Red to rose-pink tubular flowers grow singly or in small leaf-axil clusters; the five-lobed limb has a four-plus-one arrangement. Two enlarged outer calyx lobes are

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  Mysore Thorn

  Biancaea decapetala

  A sprawling, sometimes climbing shrub with recurved prickles on young branches and leaf stalks. Its twice-pinnate leaves carry numerous small, rounded-tip oblong leaflets. Yellow flowers grow in racemes; the upper petal may bear red marking

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  Koʻokoʻolau

  Bidens sandvicensis

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

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  Bishop Wood

  Bischofia javanica

  Bischofia javanica is an Asian-Pacific wet-tropical tree introduced for cultivation and forestry. KISC documents a localized Kauaʻi occurrence and monitoring, supporting documented island presence; current extent still needs refreshed surve

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  Annatto

  Bixa orellana

  Annatto (Bixa orellana) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from Mexico through tropical South America and assoc

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  ʻAhakea lau liʻi

  Bobea brevipes

  ʻAhakea lau liʻi (Bobea brevipes) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Tree to 10 m tall with coarse spreading to appressed hairs on the young branch tips.

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  ʻAhakea lau nui

  Bobea elatior

  ʻAhakea lau nui (Bobea elatior) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Tree or occasional shrub to 15 m tall, with young branch tips largely hairless except above the stipule scars.

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  Bobea timonioides

  Bobea timonioides

  Bobea timonioides is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Tree to 10 m tall with young branch tips covered in fine appressed silky hairs.

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  Akolea

  Boehmeria grandis

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

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  Northern kurrajong

  Brachychiton diversifolius

  Northern kurrajong (Brachychiton diversifolius) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native across northern Australia fr

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  Brexia

  Brexia madagascariensis

  Brexia (Brexia madagascariensis) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from the western Indian Ocean islands to th

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  ʻŌlulu

  Brighamia insignis

  ʻŌlulu is a remarkable cliff-dwelling Hawaiian lobelioid historically endemic to Kauaʻi and Niʻihau. After its likely moth pollinator disappeared, NTBG botanists Steve Perlman and Ken Wood rappelled to hand-pollinate flowers and collect see

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  Kanawao

  Broussaisia arguta

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

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  Paper mulberry

  Broussonetia papyrifera

  Wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera) originated in East Asia and reached Hawaiʻi as a Polynesian introduction used for bark cloth. Hawaiian wauke was propagated through root shoots or cuttings in cultivated landscapes. Vigorous suckering can mai

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  Panama flame tree

  Brownea macrophylla

  Panama flame tree (Brownea macrophylla) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from Panama through northwestern Sou

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  White Angel’s Trumpet

  Brugmansia × candida

  White Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia × candida) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. A stabilized horticultural hybrid derived from Andean South American Brugmansia lineages, widely culti

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  Pigeon pea

  Cajanus cajan

  Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A shrub reaching about four metres, with ridged young stems and golden hairs. Each leaf has three leaflets, often silvery hairy beneath. Pea-shaped yellow flowers may

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  Red calliandra

  Calliandra calothyrsus

  Red calliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Primarily wet tropical from Mexico through Central America; commonly used in agroforestry and capable of nitrogen fi

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  Pink powderpuff

  Calliandra surinamensis

  Pink powderpuff (Calliandra surinamensis) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Primarily wet tropical in its native South

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  White cypress-pine

  Callitris columellaris

  White cypress-pine (Callitris columellaris) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. An eastern Australian conifer growing pri

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  Black cypress pine

  Callitris endlicheri

  Black cypress pine (Callitris endlicheri) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to southeastern Queensland, New So

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  Kamani

  Calophyllum inophyllum

  Kamani (Calophyllum inophyllum) is a Polynesian-introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi as a Polynesian introduction by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist, with island presence corroborated by the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unas

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  Apple of Sodom

  Calotropis procera

  Apple of Sodom (Calotropis procera) 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 dryland shrub or small tree native from norther

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  Tea Plant

  Camellia sinensis

  Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) 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 evergreen shrub or tree native from the e

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  Camphor Tree

  Camphora officinarum

  Camphor Tree (Camphora officinarum) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Kew currently accepts Camphora officinarum, with

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  Campylopus moss

  Campylopus spp.

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

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  Ylang-ylang

  Cananga odorata

  Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Native from mainland Southeast Asia through Malesia to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and northeastern Australia. Flora and a

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  Java almond

  Canarium vulgare

  Java almond (Canarium vulgare) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to islands from the eastern Java Sea through

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  Hawaiian jack bean

  Canavalia pubescens

  ʻāwikiwiki is a vine in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.

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  Maiapilo

  Capparis sandwichiana

  Maiapilo (Capparis sandwichiana) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A spreading shrub whose low or trailing stems can extend several metres. The fleshy leaves are broadly oval and sometimes bluish green. Large flowers open after

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  Bird Pepper

  Capsicum annuum

  A branching pepper plant that can develop a woody shrub base in tropical climates. Smooth-edged ovate to elliptic leaves accompany small white, five-lobed flowers, often solitary at a leaf axil. Fruit size and shape vary widely; the plate d

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  Papaya

  Carica papaya

  Papaya (Carica papaya) 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 tropical American crop species of cultivated origin whose pr

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  Pecan

  Carya illinoinensis

  Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from the central and east-central United States

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  Yellow Oleander

  Cascabela thevetia

  Yellow Oleander (Cascabela thevetia) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. A seasonally dry tropical shrub or tree native from Mexico through tropical South America and widely introduce

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  African Laburnum

  Cassia sieberiana

  African Laburnum (Cassia sieberiana) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from western tropical Africa to northwe