| Pu'u Kukui | |
| Photo Size: | 200 |
| Elevation Ft: | 5788 |
| Prominence Ft: | 5668 |
| Prominence Ref: | [1] |
| Map: | Hawaii |
| Map Size: | 260 |
| Location: | Maui, Hawaiʻi, U.S. |
| Range: | Hawaiian Islands |
| Coordinates: | 20.8906°N -156.5864°W |
| Topo: | USGS Lahaina |
| Type: | Eroded shield volcano |
| Age: | <1.3 Mega-annum |
| Volcanic Arc/Belt: | Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain |
| Easiest Route: | Hike |
Puʻu Kukui is a mountain peak in Hawaiʻi, the highest of the West Maui Mountains (Mauna Kahalawai). The 5788feet summit rises above the Puʻu Kukui Watershed Management Area, an 8661acres private nature preserve maintained by the Maui Land & Pineapple Company. The peak was formed by a volcano whose caldera eroded into what is now the Iao Valley.
Puʻu Kukui receives an average of 386.5inches of rain a year,[2] making it one of the wettest spots on Earth[3] and third wettest in the state after Big Bog on Maui and Mount Waiʻaleʻale on Kauai,[4] Rainwater unable to drain away flows into a bog. The soil is dense, deep, and acidic.[5]
Puʻu Kukui is home to many endemic plants, insects, and birds, including the greensword (Argyroxiphium grayanum), a distinctive bog variety of ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha var. pseudorugosa)[6] and many lobelioid species. Due to the mountain peak's extreme climate and acidic peat soil, many species, such as the ʻōhiʻa, are represented as dwarfs. Access to the area is restricted to researchers and conservationists.