Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_leptospermum_scoparium
Mānuka
Leptospermum scoparium
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About Mānuka
Mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Native to southeastern Australia, New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands, where it occupies varied shrubland and forest-margin habitats. On Kauaʻi it is checklist-documented as naturalized at island scale; current abundance and ecological effects are not quantified.
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
- Leptospermum scoparium
- Common names
- Mānuka · Tea tree · Red tea tree
- Other names
- Leptospermum scoparium · Mānuka · Tea tree · Red tea tree · Philadelphus scoparius (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) Aiton
- 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, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed; no New Zealand infraspecific name is assigned to the Kauaʻi population.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Mostly solitary five-petaled flowers mature into persistent woody five-celled capsules. The genus produces many ovules but relatively few viable seeds. Kauaʻi flowering, capsule opening, dispersal, and seedling recruitment are unmeasured.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Tree or shrub
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
- Mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Native to southeastern Australia, New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands, where it occupies varied shrubland and forest-margin habitats. On Kauaʻi it is checklist-documented as naturalized at island scale; current abundance and ecological effects are not quantified.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:597505-1
- https://www.nzflora.info/factsheet/taxon/Leptospermum-scoparium.html
- 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