Euphorbia kuwaleana facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Euphorbia kuwaleana |
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| herbarium specimen | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Euphorbia
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| Species: |
kuwaleana
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| Synonyms | |
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Chamaesyce kuwaleana |
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The Euphorbia kuwaleana is a very rare flowering plant. People often call it kokomalei or `akoko. It belongs to the euphorb family, which is a group of plants known for their milky sap. This special plant only grows in one place: the Waiʻanae Range on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It's so rare that the United States government has listed it as an endangered species. This means it's in danger of disappearing forever.
Meet the Kokomalei Plant
The kokomalei plant is a type of shrub. It likes to grow on rocky cliffs made of basalt. Basalt is a dark, hard rock that forms from cooled lava. These plants can grow stems up to about one meter long. Inside their stems, they have a milky liquid called sap.
What Does It Look Like?
When new stems grow on the kokomalei plant, they are reddish. As they get older, they turn a waxy gray color. The leaves are small, shaped like an oval or a heart, and can be up to 2.5 centimeters long. The underside of the leaves feels a little bit fuzzy.
The plant's flowers are quite unique. They are called a cyathium (say: sy-AY-thee-um). A cyathium is a special type of flower cluster that looks like a single flower. These tiny flower clusters grow either where the leaves meet the stem or at the very tip of the stem.
Where Does It Live?
The kokomalei plant is endemic to Oahu, Hawaii. This means it naturally grows nowhere else in the world! It lives only on a small, four-kilometer stretch of the Waianae Range. This makes it very special and important to protect.
Why Is It Endangered?
Sadly, there are only about 2,000 kokomalei plants left in the wild. This small number makes them very vulnerable. The biggest threats to these plants are non-native plants and fire.
- Non-native plants: These are plants that were brought to Hawaii from other places. They can grow very fast and take over the space where kokomalei plants live. They also compete for sunlight, water, and nutrients.
- Fire: Wildfires can quickly destroy the small areas where the kokomalei plants grow. Since there are so few of them, a single large fire could wipe out a big part of their population.
Protecting the kokomalei plant is important to keep Hawaii's unique natural world healthy.
