Kauaʻi field guide
Invasive Plants and Plant Biosecurity on Kauaʻi
Explore invasive plants and plant biosecurity concerns relevant to Kauaʻi. Entries include identification images, published management sources, recorded impacts and available conservation actions.
Occurrence and evidence notes
This collection includes established plants, management-listed concerns and prevention watches. A management listing alone does not prove that a plant is established on Kauaʻi. Check the individual record’s invasion state, occurrence evidence and uncertainty before deciding what its presence means.
108 records · Page 1 of 5
Silver wattle
Acacia dealbata
Silver wattle (Acacia dealbata) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to southeastern Australia and Tasmania, where it grows i
Australian blackwood
Acacia melanoxylon
Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) 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 eastern and southeastern Australi
Spiny seaweed
Acanthophora spicifera
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
Crofton Weed
Ageratina adenophora
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
Tree of Heaven
Ailanthus altissima
Ailanthus altissima is an introduced tree with a Kauaʻi report dated 2011 in Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist appendix. The reviewed sources do not establish current island presence or naturalization. Its management-watch status remains unres
Candlenut
Aleurites moluccanus
Aleurites moluccanus is native from tropical and subtropical Asia into the western Pacific and was carried to Hawaiʻi by Polynesian voyagers. It is now a conspicuous naturalized and culturally significant tree in many moist valleys and stre
Indian Devil Tree
Alstonia macrophylla
Alstonia macrophylla is a South and Southeast Asian tree introduced through forestry or horticulture. Wind-dispersed seed and rapid growth give it potential to spread from plantings into disturbed and secondary forest. KISC’s do-not-plant l
Broomsedge
Andropogon virginicus
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
Greensword
Argyroxiphium grayanum
ahinahina is a rosette shrub in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Oʻahu Wormwood
Artemisia australis
ʻāhinahina is a shrub in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is indigenous.
Breadfruit
Artocarpus altilis
ʻUlu is a Polynesian-introduced food tree and a central component of Pacific agroforestry rather than a native Hawaiian forest species. Most Hawaiian cultivars are maintained by people through vegetative propagation, and deep soils, moistur
Giant reed
Arundo donax
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
Limu kohu complex
Asparagopsis taxiformis
limu kohu is a red alga in the Kauaʻi limu group. Its origin status is indigenous.
Water hyssop
Bacopa monnieri
ʻaeʻae is a wetland herb in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is indigenous.
Koʻokoʻolau
Bidens sandvicensis
koʻokoʻolau is a shrub herb in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Bishop Wood
Bischofia javanica
Bischofia javanica is an Asian-Pacific wet-tropical tree introduced for cultivation and forestry. KISC documents a localized Kauaʻi occurrence and monitoring, supporting documented island presence; current extent still needs refreshed surve
Akolea
Boehmeria grandis
akolea is a shrub in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
ʻŌlulu
Brighamia insignis
ʻŌlulu is a remarkable cliff-dwelling Hawaiian lobelioid historically endemic to Kauaʻi and Niʻihau. After its likely moth pollinator disappeared, NTBG botanists Steve Perlman and Ken Wood rappelled to hand-pollinate flowers and collect see
Kanawao
Broussaisia arguta
kanawao is a shrub in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Paper mulberry
Broussonetia papyrifera
Wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera) originated in East Asia and reached Hawaiʻi as a Polynesian introduction used for bark cloth. Hawaiian wauke was propagated through root shoots or cuttings in cultivated landscapes. Vigorous suckering can mai
Campylopus moss
Campylopus spp.
none_recorded is a moss in the Kauaʻi mosses and liverworts group. Its origin status is needs taxonomic review.
Hawaiian jack bean
Canavalia pubescens
ʻāwikiwiki is a vine in the Kauaʻi vascular and land plants group. Its origin status is endemic.
Ironwood
Casuarina equisetifolia
Casuarina equisetifolia is native to Australia and neighboring Indo-Pacific coasts and is introduced and naturalized in Hawaiʻi. It tolerates salt, wind, nutrient-poor sand, and coastal exposure, while dense litter, shade, and root competit
Fountain grass
Cenchrus setaceus
Species identity and image source are documented. Additional ecological and conservation citations are recommended.
