DLNR News Release – NEW PLANT DISCOVERIES CELEBRATED DURING NATIVE PLANT MONTH, April 27, 2026

STATE OF HAWAIʻI

KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

JOSH GREEN, M.D.

GOVERNOR

KE KIAʻĀINA

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES

KA ‘OIHANA KUMUWAIWAI ‘ĀINA

RYAN KANAKA‘OLE

ACTING CHAIRPERSON  

NEW PLANT DISCOVERIES CELEBRATED DURING NATIVE PLANT MONTH

Five New Species Announced by DLNR Rare Plant Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 27, 2026

HONOLULU – The discovery of 5 new plant species and the rediscovery of a number of species that have been thought to have been misplaced are detailed within the new Rare Plant Program 2025 Island Highlights report. This provides lovers for Hawaiian crops a terrific deal to rejoice throughout April’s Native Plant Month observance. 

The report was produced by the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) Rare Plant Program and the Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP). PEPP is a collaboration of DLNR and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit.

New Discoveries

The 5 new plant species have been found lately on Kauaʻi throughout distant explorations by PEPP and the National Tropical Botanical Garden and have been formally introduced in 2025. These crops are discovered nowhere else on Earth. Some, like Lysimachia barcae, a fragile shrub with a shocking purple flower, have fewer than a dozen people identified to exist. 

Rediscoveries

Five species on Lānaʻi have been rediscovered after many years with no sightings. Botanists had feared these crops may not be alive on Lānaʻi. 

On Oʻahu, a species of haʻiwale was discovered for the primary time since 1943.

On Hawaiʻi Island, people of two critically uncommon species of ʻoha wai and makou have been discovered. Previously, botanists have been conscious of only one remaining particular person of this species of ʻoha wai within the wild, and no remaining wild people of this species of makou.

“We celebrate Native Plant Month every year in April, but this year is special,” stated DLNR DOFAW Botanist Matt Keir. “Discovering new species and expanding what we know about Hawaiian plants means that there is literally more to celebrate.”

The annual report additionally highlights lots of the challenges native crops in Hawaiʻi are dealing with, together with the presence of hoofed animals and infestations of coconut rhinoceros beetles on a number of species of loulu (native fan palms).

DOFAW, PEPP and accomplice teams are deploying new instruments to advance plant conservation work, together with drones that can be utilized each for distant monitoring and the gathering of plant specimens.

The full report is obtainable at

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