Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_melaleuca_quinquenervia

Broad-leaved paperbark

Melaleuca quinquenervia

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About Broad-leaved paperbark

Broad-leaved paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia) 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 New Guinea, New Caledonia, and eastern Australia, where it is associated with wet tropical and coastal swamp-forest settings. It is introduced in Hawaiʻi. The reviewed 2025 checklist and multiple Kauaʻi forestry surveys document naturalized island presence; those sources support occurrence but do not by themselves quantify current island-wide extent or impacts.

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. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 124,296 plants under Melaleuca quinquenervia across 38 entries dated 1927–1956. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).

Names and classification

Scientific name: Melaleuca quinquenervia
Common names: Broad-leaved paperbark · Paperbark · Cajeput tree
Other names: Melaleuca quinquenervia · Broad-leaved paperbark · Paperbark · Cajeput tree · Metrosideros quinquenervia
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: The sources establish documented naturalized presence, not current island-wide abundance, precise distribution, population trend, ecological effects, or management priority. No fine locality is published in this record.

Habitat and ecology

Habitats: Not yet assessed
Food and resource needs: Not yet assessed
Reproduction: Flowers are grouped in dense spikes and produce many tiny seeds in persistent woody capsules. The capsules can remain on branches after flowering. Kauaʻi-specific pollinators, flowering season, seed release cues, viable seed production, recruitment, and dispersal distances remain unassessed.
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: Broad-leaved paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia) 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 New Guinea, New Caledonia, and eastern Australia, where it is associated with wet tropical and coastal swamp-forest settings. It is introduced in Hawaiʻi. The reviewed 2025 checklist and multiple Kauaʻi forestry surveys document naturalized island presence; those sources support occurrence but do not by themselves quantify current island-wide extent or impacts.

Sources and further reading

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