Reforesting Hakalau: The Back Office

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

Cyanea shipmanii

For many people, birds are the stars of the Hawaiian forest. Rare creatures with distinct evolutionary history tend to get the lion’s share of people’s attention. There is a reason it’s called charismatic fauna. At Hakalau, thousands upon thousands of visitors from around the world come to see these wonders of nature.

I’ll say now that there is a good amount of people out there that love plants. But there is also a reason that the term charismatic flora isn’t as popular. Akin to a Broadway production, the birds are the scene-stealers and the plants are the scene. The backdrop. That’s the front of the house, what the paying public sees. What is going on behind the scenes, with the reforestation efforts? Let’s unveil the curtain of some of the awesome things going on in the back office…

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Identifying native plant seedlings

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

It is difficult enough to try and identify the hundreds of different plant species native to Hawai’i. Keying out the different characteristics takes a lot of work and patience. Identifying native seedlings adds more challenges for many of them look different than mature plants. This is especially important in restoration work; many native seedlings can be accidentally pulled up because they aren’t what people expect to see. We’ll try to look at these issues in this post…

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Birds of Hakalau

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez
Akepa & Creeper

Akepa & Creeper

Finally, I was able to cross off something that I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. Over the weekend, our regular group of Manoa Cliff volunteers was able to help with the Hakalau National Wildlife refuge on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Hakalau is one of the finest birdwatching spots in the state and it did not disappoint….

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Getting to know your Hawaiian Lobeliads #27: Cyanea lanceolata

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

Cyanea lanceolata

Cyanea lanceolata

  • Hawaiian Name: Haha
  • Conservation Status: Endangered
  • Distribution: O’ahu (Ko’olau mountains)
  • Date photographed: 7/20/2013
  • Ease of viewing: Difficult
  • *Identification: Form– Stems woody, muricate in juveniles Leaves– elliptic to oblanceolate, blades 15-60 cm long, 5.5-14 cm wide Flower– calyx lobes triangular, 1-3 mm long; corolla glabrous, pale to dark magenta
  • Phylogenetic comments: Formerly part of Rollandia, subspecies lanceolata was elevated to full species status. Where there was once Rollandia lanceolata, now there is Cyanea lanceolata and Cyanea calycina.
  • My notes: Another of the Cyanea spp. on O’ahu that I’ve only recently seen for the first time in the wild. I was very excited to see this particular species because Cyanea lanceolata is the first of the muricate lobeliads I’ve encountered. Thorns and prickles may have evolved in Cyanea in response to browsing pressure from giant flightless ducks (Givnish, 1994). In the picture above, I can almost see the O’ahu Moa Nalo attempting to feed from the plant and moving off in frustration.
  • Links: Smithsonian Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, UH Botany, Native Hawaiian Plants- Cyanea
  • Refs: Givnish, T. J., Sytsma, K. J., Smith, J. F., & Hahn, W. J. (1994). Thorn-like prickles and heterophylly in Cyanea: adaptations to extinct avian browsers on Hawaii?. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 91(7), 2810-2814.
  • Additional Pics:

Cyanea lanceolata prickles

*From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i

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Getting to know your Hawaiian Lobeliads #26: Cyanea acuminata

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

Cyanea acuminata

Cyanea acuminata

  • Hawaiian Name: Haha
  • Conservation Status: Endangered
  • Distribution: O’ahu (Ko’olau mountains)
  • Date photographed: 6/22/2013
  • Ease of viewing: Difficult
  • *Identification: Form– Shrub, 0.3-2 m tall Leaves– oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or elliptic, blades 11-32 cm long, 3-9 cm wide, base attenuate to cunate. Flower– calyx lobes narrowly triangular, 2-5 mm long; corolla white, 30-35 mm long, 3-4 mm wide.
  • My notes: I was given some general directions on finding this particular guy, so I was pretty please when I actually found the plant. I’ve seen Cyanea acuminata only once before at the Poamoho summit and it looked quite different. It had fat leaves and was very prostrate. In this sheltered gulch, this C. acuminata was about 2 feet tall.
  • Links: Smithsonian Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, UH Botany, Native Hawaiian Plants- Cyanea
  • Additional Pics:

Cyanea acuminataCyanea acuminata

*From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i

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Snapshot: More Cyanea crispa flowers

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

Cyanea crispa flowersWe’ve been monitoring the health of a specimen of Cyanea crispa, an awesome lobeliad found in the dark understorey of Ko’olau forests. A few months back, a rotten ‘ohia branch crashed down mere feet away from this plant. It survived that close call and is now in full flower! Let’s hope it loves the word cleistogamy.

Cyanea crispa flowerscyanea crispa flowers

 

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Getting to know your Hawaiian Lobeliads #25: Delissea kauaiensis

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

Delissea kauaiensis

Delissea kauaiensis (cultivated)

  • Conservation Status: Endangered
  • Distribution: Kaua’i
  • Date photographed: 6/26/2013
  • Ease of viewing: Cultivated
  • *Identification: Form– Treelet or tree (rarely sparingly branched), 1.2-4.5 m tall. Leaves– 5.7-19.0 cm long, 2-11 cm wide, ovate or lanceolate, margin coarsely biserrate or crenate. Flower– Calyx lobes 0.5-2.0 mm long, 0.3-0.7 mm wide; Corolla 16-30 mm long
  • Phylogenetic comments: The Delissea undulata complex was split up into 4 different species (Lammers, 2005). Only the species from Kaua’i and Big Island are currently known to be extant. These 4 species form the now reduced sect. Delissea. 2022 update — Previously thought to be closely related to the Big Island D. argutidentata, current genetic works shows that D. kauaiensis nests with its island sympatric relative D. rhytiosperma.
  • My notes: Until I read the recent Delissea monograph, I was unsure of the differences between the 2 Kaua’i species. Delissea kauaiensis differs from D. rhytidosperma by a number of morphological features. D. kauaiensis has leaves in short internodes; the leaves form a dense apical rosette. In D. rhytidosperma the leaves are more widely spaced on the stem. D. kauaiensis rarely branches unlike D. rhytidosperma. Also, the flowers on D. kauaiensis typically have 3 knobs on the corolla, D. rhytidosperma only has one.
  • Links:  Smithsonian Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, UH Botany, Native Hawaiian Plants- Delissea
  • Refs: Lammers, T. G. (2005). Revision of Delissea (Campanulaceae-Lobelioideae).Systematic Botany Monographs, 1-75.

*From Lammers Revision of Delissea

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Getting to know your Hawaiian Lobeliads #24: Delissea rhytidosperma

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

Delissea

Delissea rhytidosperma (cultivated)

  • Conservation Status: Endangered
  • Distribution: Kaua’i
  • Date photographed: 1/3/2012
  • Ease of viewing: Cultivated
  • *Identification: Form– Shrub, 0.5-2.5 m tall. Leaves– 8-19 cm long, 2.0-5.5 cm wide; oblanceolate, elliptic, or narrowly elliptic; margins serrulate or crenulate Flower– calyx lobes 0.5-1.0 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide, glabrous; 14-24 mm long
  • Phylogenetic comments: Delissea was provincially split into two groups: plants with small greenish-white flowers were placed in the sect. delissea. D. rhytidosperma was part of this group but recent work (Lammers, 2005) has placed it into a newly erected sect. rhytidospermae. Several species were known, but D. rhytidosperma is the only one to be currently extant. 2022 update — New genetic work seems to show that D. rhytidosperma and D. kauaiensis form a clade sister to the remaining Delissea spp.
  • My notes: This highly endangered plant is known from a few wild plants in mesic forest on Kaua’i. Luckily, it does well in cultivation. Delissea rhytidosperma is one of the most commonly available lobeliads to the average gardener here in Hawai’i.
  • Links: Delissea rhytidosperma SGCN (pdf), Smithsonian Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, UH Botany, Native Hawaiian Plants- Delissea
  • Refs: Lammers, T. G. (2005). Revision of Delissea (Campanulaceae-Lobelioideae).Systematic Botany Monographs, 1-75.

*From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i

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‘Aka’aka’awa refugium

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez

akaakaawaI was super excited to finally come across this cool native plant. This is the sole native begonia to Hawai’i: ‘Aka’aka’awa (Hillebrandia sandwicensis). I personally like to say it in the same cadence as the name of a certain young mongoose in a certain Rudyard Kipling story. This plant is currently only found on Kaua’i, Maui and Molokai. Hillebrand (for whom the plant is named) recorded it once back in the 1880’s on Mt. Ka’ala on O’ahu.

The genetics (Clement, 2004) seem to show that this plant may have quite the story to tell. For ‘Aka’aka’awa maybe the last of its line, one whose unique evolutionary history may stretch back to just after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Some advertisers have it wrong. Move over cycads… ‘Aka’aka’awa is the true prehistoric plant of Hawai’i.

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I didn’t bring a camera on a quick, impromptu trip to Maui, but I just want to say that Hosmer Grove is incredible! Sure, it’s mostly alien eucalyptus and pine trees that were planted, but… wow! What birdlife! Considering on O’ahu we have maybe 2 i’iwi (Vestaria coccinea) left, seeing them in large numbers was awe-inspiring.

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Sebastian Marquez | 2 Comments