Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_capparis_sandwichiana
Maiapilo
Capparis sandwichiana
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About Maiapilo
Maiapilo (Capparis sandwichiana) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A spreading shrub whose low or trailing stems can extend several metres. The fleshy leaves are broadly oval and sometimes bluish green. Large flowers open after dusk, with white petals and numerous prominent stamens that turn pinkish with age. Ripe fleshy fruits are orange. A native component of coastal shrub vegetation and the sole Hawaiian native caper-family species. Its persistence can be tracked through wild recruitment, shrub cover and seed production. NTBG documents habitat loss and introduced-species pressures across its range; no Kauaʻi effect size is inferred.
Kauaʻi evidence
Established island occurrence follows the Bishop Museum checklist. Diagnostic morphology follows Smithsonian Hawaiian Flora; accepted identity follows Kew WCVP. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Capparis sandwichiana
- Hawaiian names
- maiapilo · pilo · pua pilo
- Other names
- Capparis sandwichiana · maiapilo · pilo · pua pilo · Capparis sandwichiana var. zoharyi
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Endemic
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-07
- Evidence limits
- Current extent and island effect sizes are unassessed. Public occurrence remains island-level only.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Coastal low shrubland · Rocky coastal vegetation
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Local pollinators, flowering schedules, seedling establishment and recruitment rates are not independently assessed.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or subshrub
Threats and conservation
- Threats
- Range-wide concerns documented by NTBG include non-native plants, goats, rats, fire, sea-level rise and coastal development; Kauaʻi severity is unquantified.
- Monitoring
- Wild recruitment and occupied coastal habitat; Flowering, fruiting and viable seed production; Shrub cover, documented browsing and habitat loss. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
- Data gaps
- Current island population extent and trend · Quantified local environmental effects
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Maiapilo (Capparis sandwichiana) is recorded as an established shrub on Kauaʻi. A spreading shrub whose low or trailing stems can extend several metres. The fleshy leaves are broadly oval and sometimes bluish green. Large flowers open after dusk, with white petals and numerous prominent stamens that turn pinkish with age. Ripe fleshy fruits are orange. A native component of coastal shrub vegetation and the sole Hawaiian native caper-family species. Its persistence can be tracked through wild recruitment, shrub cover and seed production. NTBG documents habitat loss and introduced-species pressures across its range; no Kauaʻi effect size is inferred.