Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_conocarpus_erectus
Buttonwood
Conocarpus erectus
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About Buttonwood
Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A tropical coastal shrub or tree native around the shores of the Americas and western Africa. It commonly occupies the landward edge of mangrove communities and other saline or brackish coastal settings; its fruits can disperse by floating. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K), with Smithsonian 2026 Kauaʻi corroboration; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Conocarpus erectus
- Common names
- Buttonwood · Button mangrove
- Other names
- Conocarpus erectus · Buttonwood · Button mangrove · Terminalia erecta (L.) Baill.
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, reproductive distribution, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Bisexual flowers are grouped in dense spherical heads. The many small dry fruits mature together into a button-like aggregate and can be transported by water. Kauaʻi-specific flowering, pollination, fruit dispersal, and seedling recruitment are unmeasured.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A tropical coastal shrub or tree native around the shores of the Americas and western Africa. It commonly occupies the landward edge of mangrove communities and other saline or brackish coastal settings; its fruits can disperse by floating. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K), with Smithsonian 2026 Kauaʻi corroboration; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:319151-2
- https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/hawaiianflora/speciesdescr.cfm?genus=Conocarpus&species=erectus
- https://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=220003241
- https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000618338
- https://www.plantsofhawaii.org/search/Conocarpus%20erectus
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043