Cyanea (plant) explained

Cyanea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae that are endemic to Hawaii. The name Cyanea in Hawaiian is hāhā.[1]

Ecology

These Hawaiian lobelioids are endemic to Hawaii with over 90% of Cyanea species are found only on one island in the Hawaiian chain.[2] They grow in moist and wet forest habitat[3] and are largely pollinated by birds such as the Hawaiian honeycreepers, and the seeds are dispersed by birds that take the fruits.

Description

Most Cyanea are trees with few branches or none. The inflorescence is a raceme of 4 to 45 flowers which grows from the leaf axils. The fruit is a fleshy berry.

Evolutionary anachronism

There have been several theories regarding the evolution of large prickles on these plants that are endemic to islands that lack any mammalian or reptilian herbivores. One such theory suggests that the prickles are a defense against herbivory by the moa-nalo, a few taxa of flightless ducks that went extinct on the islands within the last 1600 years, an example of evolutionary anachronism.[4]

Species

There are about 78 species in the genus.[5] Species include:[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hawaiian Native Plant Genera - Campanulaceae: Cyanea . Dr. Gerald Carr, University of Hawaiʻi . September 20, 2015.
  2. Givnish, T. J., et al. (2009). Origin, adaptive radiation and diversification of the Hawaiian lobeliads (Asterales: Campanulaceae). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276(1656), 407-16.
  3. Lammers, T. G. (2004). Five new species of the endemic Hawaiian genus Cyanea (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae). Novon 14(1) 84-101.
  4. Givnish, T. J., et al. (1994). Thorn-like prickles and heterophylly in Cyanea: adaptations to extinct avian browsers on Hawaii? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 91(7), 2810-14.
  5. Oppenheimer, H. and D. H. Lorence. (2012). A new species of Cyanea (Campanulaceae, Lobelioideae) from Maui, Hawaiian Islands. PhytoKeys (13), 15-23.
  6. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=34671 Cyanea.
  7. Web site: Native Plants Hawaii - Viewing Plant : Cyanea angustifolia. nativeplants.hawaii.edu.
  8. Web site: Plants Profile for Cyanea angustifolia ('aku). plants.usda.gov.
  9. Web site: The Nature Conservancy . Waikamoi Preserve East Maui Irrigation (EMI) Addition . Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources . 20 November 2023 . 8 . PDF . August 2019.

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