Kanaloa kahoolawensis

History

Kanaloa was discovered in 1992 by the botanists Ken Wood and Steve Perlman of the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kahoolawe, a small island that was formerly used as a bombing range. Kahoolawe was a penal colony for the Hawaiian monarchy from 1826 to 1853, after which it was leased for ranching. Dry weather and ranching have devastated the island's vegetation. Only two wild plants of Kanaloa kahoolawensis have been observed growing on the island. The genus and species were formally named by Lorence and Wood in 1994. The genus name honors the Hawaiian deity Kanaloa, who according to legend used the island to rest and regain his energies. Scholars and native Hawaiian activists both agree that Kanaloa is from the original name "Kohemālamalama o Kanaloa", which translates as the place or womb for the resuscitation of Kanaloa. According to Lorence & Wood (1994), Kanaloa means, "secure, firm, immovable, established, unconquerable...Such attributes are certainly essential for this plant to have survived in spite of the severe degradation of the island". The specific epithet kahoolawensis is from the island Kahoolawe where the first species was discovered.

Habitat and range

Only two plants have ever been found in the wild. The single remaining plant grows on the cliffs of Aleale Puuloae on a sea stack off the coast of the Kahoolawe. Soils are oxisols derived from basaltic lavas at an elevation of 45–60 m. It is possible that the range of this species previously included other Hawaiian islands; fossilized pollen from plants likely to be in the same genus has been found in core samples taken from sinkholes in Oahu's Ewa Plain, Maui, and Kauai's Makauwahi Cave. Whether the pollen grains in the samples belong to K. kahoolawensis cannot be determined. As Kahoolawe was united with Maui and other islands prehistorically (see also Maui Nui), it is entirely possible that the pollen belongs to K. kahoolawensis. On the other hand, it may also be that the Oahu population remains represent another, extinct, species - possibly an ancestor of K. kahoolawensis -, judging from the biogeography of Hawaiian land plants.

Description

Kanaloa kahoolawensis is an unarmed shrub reaching 0.75–1 m in height. Branches are dense, decumbent and measure 0.75-1.5 m long. New growth is densely brown hirtellous-villosulous with straight and curly, white and brown simple trichomes 0.1-0.3 mm long. Stipules free, paired, ovate, villosulous, 1.5–2 mm x 1.2-1.5 mm. Leaves alternate, bipinnately compound with one pair of pinnae, each pinna bears 3 leaflets, a terminal pair and a single proximal leaflet on the abaxial side, leaflets nearly sessile, pulvinus

Phylogeny

Based on molecular phylogenetic studies, Kanaloa is closely related to Schleinitzia and Desmanthus. Shared features include: lack of spines or prickles, presence of sessile petiolar glands, petals free to the base, and inflorescence a capitulum. Kanaloa differs from Schleinitzia in lacking glands at the apex of the anthers and having simple rather than compound pollen grains. Fruits are dehiscent along the sutures in Kanaloa; in Schleinitzia the sutural ribs separate from the valves forming a craspedium similar to that in Mimosa. Kanaloa is most closely related to Desmanthus, sharing peltate floral bracts and inertly dehiscent fruits. Kanaloa differs from Desmanthus in having 3 leaflets per pinna and cordiform seeds.

Conservation

Other than preserving the wild plants, efforts have been put into establishing ex-situ stocks (in a nursery or arboretum), and increasing plant populations with a minimum of 25 individuals. Fences have been built to protect the single wild plant from grazing and trampling by introduced mammals. The plants are inspected regularly for insect damage and disease. Another plant that was grown from seed is currently kept in the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s McBryde Garden on Kauai, Hawaii.

References

References

1. (1999-03-05). "Genus: ''Kanaloa'' Lorence & K. R. Wood". United States Department of Agriculture.
2. USFWS. [http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=Q3GX ''Kanaloa kahoolawensis'' Species Profile]
3. Lorence, D.H. (1994). "''Kanaloa'', a New Genus of Fabaceae (Mimosoideae) From Hawaii". Novon.
4. "''Kanaloa kahoolawensis''". National Tropical Botanical Garden.
5. Blackford, M.G.. (2004). "Environmental Justice, Native Rights, Tourism, and Opposition to Military Control: The Case of Kaho'olawe.". The Journal of American History.
6. TenBruggencate, Jan. (2007-08-07). "Oahu sinkholes yield extinct birds". Honolulu Advertiser.
7. Ernst, Cheryl. (January 2002). "Discovering Kauaʻi's Real 'Lost World'". University of Hawaii.
8. "Kanaloa". State of Hawaiʻi.
9. Athens, J. S.; Ward, J. V. & Wickler, S. (1992) Late Holocene lowland vegetation on O{{Okinaahu, Hawai{{Okinai. ''New Zealand Journal of Archaeology'' '''14''': 9–34.
10. James, Helen F. & Burney, David A. (1997): The diet and ecology of Hawaii's extinct flightless waterfowl: evidence from coprolites. ''[[Biological Journal of the Linnean Society]]'' '''62'''(2): 279–297. [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ap/bj/1997/00000062/00000002/art00158 HTML abstract]
11. Hughes, C.E.. (2003). "Relationships Among Genera of the Informal ''Dichrostachys'' and ''Leucaena'' Groups (Mimosoideae) Inferred from Nuclear Ribosomal ITS Sequences". Kew Publishing.