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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Black Mulberry
Morus nigra
Black Mulberry (Morus nigra) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to southwestern Asia and adjoining temperate re
Munroidendron racemosum
Munroidendron racemosum
Munroidendron racemosum is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Tree to about 7 m tall with a straight trunk, spreading branches and smooth gray bark.
Jamaican Cherry
Muntingia calabura
Jamaican Cherry (Muntingia calabura) 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 tropi
Orange Jasmine
Murraya paniculata
Orange Jasmine (Murraya paniculata) 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 trop
Banana
Musa spp.
Maiʻa covers a banana and plantain crop complex, including Polynesian introductions maintained in Hawaiian cultural landscapes by vegetative propagation. These large herbs form tree-like pseudostems rather than woody trunks. Mats expand thr
Naio
Myoporum sandwicense
Naio (Myoporum sandwicense) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Low spreading shrub or erect shrub to small tree, occasionally reaching 20 m.
Cinamomo
Myrospermum frutescens
Cinamomo (Myrospermum frutescens) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from central Mexico through Central Americ
Kōlea
Myrsine alyxifolia
Kōlea (Myrsine alyxifolia) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Myrsine cirrhosa
Myrsine cirrhosa
A moderately branched shrub with slender smooth branches and narrow leaves clustered near shoot tips. Entire leaf margins strongly wave toward the tip, which ends in a long curved hook. The lower surface has long dark secretory streaks. Sma
Kōlea
Myrsine denticulata
A small, much-branched shrub with closely spaced small narrow leaves, conspicuously brown-dotted. Fine teeth occur only in the upper third of slightly rolled margins. Pale yellow-green flowers grow singly or in pairs among the leaves. Round
Streambank colicwood
Myrsine fernseei
Streambank colicwood (Myrsine fernseei) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Koolau Range colicwood
Myrsine fosbergii
Koolau Range colicwood (Myrsine fosbergii) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
ʻŌliko
Myrsine helleri
A branched shrub with slender dark-red-brown stems and narrow leaves clustered near branch tips. Smooth, slightly thickened margins surround blades dotted black above, with long pointed tips often slightly hooked. Small axillary flower clus
Kauai colicwood
Myrsine kauaiensis
Kauai colicwood (Myrsine kauaiensis) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Kokee colicwood
Myrsine knudsenii
Kokee colicwood (Myrsine knudsenii) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Lanai colicwood
Myrsine lanaiensis
Lanai colicwood (Myrsine lanaiensis) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiian colicwood
Myrsine lessertiana
Hawaiian colicwood (Myrsine lessertiana) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Kōlea
Myrsine linearifolia
A shrub with slender ascending branches and very narrow, slightly fleshy linear leaves about two-and-a-half to four millimeters wide. Leaf tips are long-tapered, curved and often hooked; margins are smooth and slightly rolled. Tiny greenish
Kōlea
Myrsine mezii
Kōlea (Myrsine mezii) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Kōlea
Myrsine petiolata
Kōlea (Myrsine petiolata) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Kōlea
Myrsine punctata
A much-branched shrub with dull green, slightly fleshy small leaves crowded on upper shoots. Fine remote teeth occur in the upper half, and conspicuous long lower-surface secretory lines are absent. Small axillary flower clusters develop in
Kōlea
Myrsine wawraea
Kōlea (Myrsine wawraea) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Nagi Podocarp
Nageia nagi
Nagi Podocarp (Nageia nagi) 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 China, Taiwan, and southern Japa
Kiawe
Neltuma pallida
Kiawe (Neltuma 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 arid western South
Neraudia kauaiensis
Neraudia kauaiensis
A shrub with spreading hairs on the branches and thin pointed elliptic-to-ovate leaves. Smooth leaf margins contrast with densely hairy stalks and grayish-to-greenish hairy undersides. Small male and female flowers differ in stalks and caly
Maʻaloa
Neraudia melastomifolia
Maʻaloa (Neraudia melastomifolia) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Olopua
Nestegis sandwicensis
Olopua (Nestegis sandwicensis) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Tree to 8 m, exceptionally taller, with thick corrugated bark.
Tobacco
Nicotiana tabacum
A stout erect short-lived subshrub with sticky glandular hairs and large alternate leaves that become smaller up the stem. Leaves are smooth-edged or wavy and run down onto the stem. Dense terminal flower systems carry long tubular flowers
Madagascar olive
Noronhia emarginata
Madagascar olive (Noronhia emarginata) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Native to Madagascar and naturalized in parts
Broadleaf ʻAiea
Nothocestrum latifolium
Broadleaf ʻAiea (Nothocestrum latifolium) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Longleaf ʻAiea
Nothocestrum longifolium
Longleaf ʻAiea (Nothocestrum longifolium) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Kauaʻi ʻAiea
Nothocestrum peltatum
Kauaʻi ʻAiea (Nothocestrum peltatum) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi Rockwort
Nototrichium sandwicense
Hawaiʻi Rockwort (Nototrichium sandwicense) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Shrub or small tree 1–4 m tall, rarely to 7 m, with one or several trunks covered in closely appressed silky gray hairs.
Mickey Mouse Plant
Ochna thomasiana
A shrub with gray bark, lenticel-dotted young shoots and leathery pointed elliptic leaves with gland-tipped marginal bristles. Bright-yellow flowers have clawed petals and orange anthers. Enlarged sepals turn red in fruit and surround sever
Balsa
Ochroma pyramidale
Balsa (Ochroma pyramidale) 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 wet forest gaps, r
Kauaʻi Yellowwood
Ochrosia kauaiensis
Kauaʻi Yellowwood (Ochrosia kauaiensis) is a tree recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Wild Basil
Ocimum gratissimum
A woody-based perennial subshrub with stalked ovate pointed leaves bearing serrate margins and many gland dots. Small greenish-white-to-greenish-yellow flowers have two-lipped, gland-dotted calyces that enlarge in fruit. The fruits are smal
Firespike
Odontonema cuspidatum
An upright clumping shrub with large glossy foliage and elongated terminal clusters of red tubular flowers. The corolla has short upper and lower lips, with small lobes on the lower lip. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of
African Olive
Olea europaea subsp. africana
African Olive (Olea europaea subsp. africana) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. Native across much of sub-Saharan Africa and nearby islands, occupying dry woodland, bushland, and fo
Cochineal Cactus
Opuntia cochenillifera
A shrubby cactus with a distinct lower trunk and flattened, narrow elliptic-to-obovate stem pads. Areoles are usually spineless, occasionally with a few weak gray spines. Upright red flowers have overlapping erect perianth parts and long pr
Bog sedge
Oreobolus furcatus
none_recorded is a sedge like bog graminoid in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is indigenous.
ʻŪlei
Osteomeles anthyllidifolia
A much-branched native shrub, usually prostrate, with gray young shoots and drooping branches. Pinnate leaves carry numerous small leathery, smooth-edged leaflets, glossy above and hairy beneath. Clusters of white clawed flowers develop int
Mexican Weeping Bamboo
Otatea acuminata
Mexican Weeping Bamboo (Otatea acuminata) is a post-contact introduced woody bamboo documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Kew accepts Otatea acuminata as a Mexican bamboo and records it primarily in the wet tropical biome. The s
Padina
Padina australis
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
Screwpine
Pandanus tectorius
Screwpine (Pandanus tectorius) is indigenous in the Hawaiian Islands and recorded on Kauaʻi. Small tree to 15 m tall with a stout branching trunk supported by numerous thick prop roots.
Plume albizia
Paraserianthes lophantha
Plume albizia (Paraserianthes lophantha) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to southwestern Australia and parts
Aʻiaʻi
Paratrophis pendulina
Aʻiaʻi (Paratrophis pendulina) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands.
Mexican Palo Verde
Parkinsonia aculeata
Mexican Palo Verde (Parkinsonia aculeata) 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 fro
Hilo grass
Paspalum conjugatum
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
Yellow Poinciana
Peltophorum pterocarpum
Yellow Poinciana (Peltophorum pterocarpum) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. Native from Sri Lanka and southern China through Southeast Asia to northern Australia and adapted to sea
Pentas
Pentas lanceolata
A hairy, mostly woody subshrub with pointed ovate-to-lanceolate leaves, deeply evident veins and bristle-bearing stipules. Combined terminal and axillary clusters carry long tubular flowers opening into five-pointed star-shaped limbs. A rep
ʻalaʻala wai nui
Peperomia sandwicensis
ʻalaʻala wai nui is a herb in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Olomea
Perrottetia sandwicensis
Olomea (Perrottetia sandwicensis) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Perrottetia wichmaniorum
Perrottetia wichmaniorum
Perrottetia wichmaniorum (Perrottetia wichmaniorum) is a tree; shrub recorded on Kauaʻi. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Avocado
Persea americana
Avocado (Persea americana) 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 central Mexic
Makou
Peucedanum sandwicense
makou is a herb in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Henon Bamboo
Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis
Henon Bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis) is an introduced woody bamboo documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. Kew accepts this Chinese variety and associates it primarily with the temperate biome. Bish
Phyllostegia electra
Phyllostegia electra
A nearly erect hairy subshrub with thin pointed ovate-to-lanceolate leaves, toothed margins and gland-dotted lower surfaces. Loose compound racemes have a main flowering branch and shorter lateral branches. White two-lipped flowers have a m
Phyllostegia renovans
Phyllostegia renovans
A young erect subshrub that later climbs, with hairy shoots and large, coarsely toothed ovate leaves whose veins are often red-tinged. Open unbranched racemes carry white two-lipped flowers. The green, hairy bell calyx has widely spreading
Phyllostegia waimeae
Phyllostegia waimeae
A climbing subshrub with backward-pointing stem hairs and rugose, toothed, heart-based ovate leaves. Open unbranched racemes carry pink two-lipped flowers with a much longer lower lip. Small nutlets follow. This native shrub is a component
