Lobelia niihauensis

• Conservation Status: Rare
• Distribution: Ni’ihau, Kaua’i, O’ahu (Northern Wai’anae Mts)
• Date photographed: 8/10/2011
• *Identification: Form– Stems woody, prostrate, 2-4 dm long. Leaves– Leaves narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate; 7-15 cm long, 0.7-1.8 cm wide; sessile or subsessile. Flower– hypanthium obconical to hemispherical, 2-5 mm long; calyx lobes linear to triangular, 1-5 mm long; corolla magenta, 22-36 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, lobe spirally revolute.
• Phylogenetic comments: Lobelia niihauensis is thought to be closely related to Lobelia monostachya of the Southern Ko’olau Mts.
• Links: Smithsonian Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, UH Botany, Native Hawaiian Plants- Lobelia