Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

'Ena'ena is a perennial herb, unbranched or many-branched, often fragrant or resinous-smelling herb 4-25 inches tall, modestly to very densely wooly, erect to prostrate stems, olive green to white or gray, 10-60 cm long. The leaves are simple, alternate, narrow or broad spoon-shaped, moderately or densely hairy, with lower leaves often forming a rosette. Flowers are terminal, subglobose clusters of heads, each 2-3 mm long and surrounded by many membranous, overlapping bracts. The fruit is an oblong, brown achene, small, single seeded, and dry, less than 1 mm long.
Ena`ena is an extremely variable species. Four varieties are currently recognized because of their distinct plant stature, density of hairs, shape of leaves, and size and color of flower heads.

The dried fragrant leaves of 'Ena'ena were stored with feather standards, kahili, to repel insects.
'Ena'ena can be used wherever a small plant with silvery or gray foliage is desirable. Varieties range from a tall herb with a few upright stems to a smaller, denser rosette-form. The different varieties offer options for meeting specific landscape requirements. All varieties are suitable for rock gardens and xeriscapes

Endemic to Hawaii. Found on all of the main islands, except Kaho'olawe, and on Kure and Midway atolls. It grows in dry places such as coastal sand dunes near sea level, and also inland on cinder or lava at up to 3000 m elevation, making it a facultative rather than an obligate littoral species.

'Ena'ena can be easily confused with a weedy introduced species, Gnaphalium purpureum, an annual herb with heads in spike-like inflorescences that grows in disturbed places in Hawaii and Tonga.

The Center for Biological Diversity, along with renowned scientists, artists, and conservationists, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place Pseudognaphalium sandwicensium on the endangered species list.
Specimens can be seen in O`ahu at coastal sites between Waimanalo and Hanauma Bay, in Kaua`i at the National Tropical Botanical Garden at Lawa'i and in Hawai'i at Saddle Road near Pohakuloa, Sadie Seymour Botanical Garden.

We currently have 6 herbarium specimens for Pseudognaphalium sandwicensium in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.

• 002629 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1986
• 002630 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1986
• 002628 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1988
• 049234 - collected by Hank Oppenheimer in 2009
• 078506 - collected by Jeff Stallman in 2018
• 078507 - collected by Jeff Stallman in 2018