Notes from the field: On geological time, evolution, and the rediscovery of Cyanea kolekoleensis

October 14, 2026

By Kenneth R. Wood, Research Biologist

The origins of the Hawaiian flora and fauna is an 80-million-year-old tale, an odyssey written through evolutionary history as each consecutive volcano formed and rose from the hot spot where the Big Island of Hawai‘i is active today. It is an unfathomable tale, one of the greatest, where each island formed and reached its ultimate size, slowly eroded, and subsided while drifting to the northwest on the Pacific Plate a few inches each year. 

Meanwhile, during this great expanse of space and time, while isolated smack in the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean, these massive volcanoes were slowly colonized by a fantastic diversification of plants and animals crossing great ocean barriers from far distant continents. Seeds of plants and little hitch-hiking pūpū (snails) mostly arrived with manu (birds), while fern spores, nananana (spiders) and other small insects arrived via stratospheric winds and storms. 

Over time the plants and animals continued to disperse, colonize, and speciate into many more fabulous life forms, hopping from older to newer islands, and becoming further isolated into highly eroded and unique habitats in a magic cauldron of island evolution and biogeography. 

Today Kaua‘i is around 5 million years old and stands 5,243 ft. above the sea, but I often wonder about the majesty of a younger Kaua‘i, several million years ago when she towered more than 8,500 ft. in elevation. During that period Kaua‘i would not only have had the dry, mesic, and wet forest habitats that exist today, but was also home to alpine conditions that are inherently dryer after breaching into higher elevations above the cloud inversion layer.

In the distant past, there may have existed an even more diverse suite of bizarre insects, plants, and mysterious creatures evolving in isolation. One can now only imagine the long-lost ancestors of ‘āhinahina (Hawaiian silverswords), ‘ōhā wai and hāhā (lobeliads), and other families of plants scattered across the vast landscape, back in the times when sublime flightless Hawaiian moa nalo (ducks), and nā manu nahele (forest birds) lived peacefully and in balance, without all the threats and invaders that drive extinction today. Past is the cacophony of their twilight songs, and now, like the old nursery rhyme, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men may never put what has broken, back together again.

Coevolution and diversity

Here and now, the biological conditions of oceanic islands are changing quickly, and yes, we are losing species to habitat loss, invasive non-native species, and loss of pollinators and seed dispersers. Although we can only guess about the floristic diversity of the Hawaiian chain during the pre-human contact period, we do know that the documented Hawaiian flora currently contains around 1,386 native flowering plant and fern taxa, with around 130 of those species considered extinct. 

Many of us are also burdened to know that there were at least 84 endemic Hawaiian forest bird species, yet today around 58 (70%) of those magnificent creatures are gone forever. As we witness the decline of Hawaiian forest birds, particularly the honeycreepers, we also witness a decline in their co-evolutionary services as native plant pollinators and seed dispersers. One predominantly bird-pollinated plant lineage, the Hawaiian lobeliads (Campanulaceae family), has been particularly affected by the ongoing extinction of Hawaiian birds. This plant lineage is considered one of the oldest and most diverse in the Hawaiian archipelago, having numerous endemic genera (Brighamia, Clermontia, Cyanea, Delissea, and Trematolobelia) that include around 143 species.

Many of the Hawaiian lobeliads have had an intimate and ancient relationship with the Hawaiian honeycreepers, so much so that the down-curved bills of these birds co-evolved to fit perfectly inside their arched tubular flowers. This divine mutualism is like nature’s quid pro quo (something for something) whereby the flowers present sweet nectar which the honeycreepers search for and drink from by inserting their long arcuate (curved) bills and bizarre tube-like tongues. In so doing, their feathered heads are dusted with pollen as they nod against the flowers protruding pollen-filled anther sacs, thereby pollinating each flower during visitations. Furthermore, when the fruit ripen, nā manu nahele return to eat the berries and spread the seed progeny across adjacent forests.

Research botanists now estimate that 42 Hawaiian lobeliad species have possibly gone extinct, with no wild individuals known and the loss of Hawaiian forest bird pollinators and seed dispersers being one of the major causes. Yet grim as that number sounds, presumed Hawaiian extinctions in the lobeliad lineage was even greater when the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i was first published in 1990. Since then, forest research by NTBG, the Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP), and the State of Hawai‘i’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) have rediscovered ten previously presumed extinct Hawaiian lobeliads and have followed up with decades of conservation monitoring and seed collections.

Lost and found

In the spirit of hope and renewal, I’d like to share the story of one of those recently re-discovered lobeliad species, hāhā (Cyanea kolekoleensis) which was originally discovered by longtime NTBG botanist Steve Perlman in 1979. Steve spent much of his life in the wao akua (sacred forest uplands) of Kaua‘i, and, for that matter, throughout the Pacific, becoming intimately familiar with the many unique life forms that dwelled therein.

During his far-reaching explorations, Steve took the time to document with herbarium vouchers the unusual plant species he encountered, and as such, he discovered and made the original holotype₁ voucher of C. kolekoleensis. Suffice it to say that it was of exquisite design, with an eight-flowered pendent inflorescence, long white-purple corollas and large dark purple anther tubes. After its discovery it was botanically described by Steve’s mentor and friend, the great 20^th century botanist Harold St. John who worked out of Bishop Museum on O‘ahu. Although the small colony was closely monitored for many years, horticulturalists were unable to establish successful long-term cultivation of C. kolekoleensis and the only known wild individuals died after last being observed in 1998.

And so it goes, the pendulum swings, and populations of plants naturally fluctuate up and down, but when plants are rare there is little room to climb back up if the downward swings to zero. Here in this story a spark of hope rises like a phoenix and exemplifies our thesis that information concerning endangered organisms opens a direct pathway to their preservation. Now, after not being documented for over a quarter of a century, Cyanea kolekoleensis was recently rediscovered by PEPP botanists Scott Heintzman and Susan Deans in partnership with NTBG, in a remote wao akua headwater along windward Kaua‘i.

This re-discovery opened the opportunity to return several times to monitor, cross-pollinate flowers, and bag developing fruit to protect against rat predation. Ultimately, many thousands of seeds have been collected for short and long-term storage, and healthy plants are being cultivated at DOFAW’s mid-elevation nursery in Kōke‘e, Kaua‘i.

Remarkably, not long after the initial re-discovery, NTBG research associate Dr. Ben Nyberg joined us on one of our research forays and found yet another small colony of C. kolekoleensis utilizing drone technology. While flying his exploratory drone, Ben captured close-up, high-resolution images of this new colony along with geographic coordinates. Subsequently, we returned to the new colony in July 2026 whereby NTBG and PEPP teamed-up to monitor the new location.

This example of partnership included Ben taking to the air and using his drone to guide Scott, who successfully navigated on foot through the steep slopes and drainage to access the new individuals of C. kolekoleensis. We now have a safe helicopter landing zone and overland route to the new second colony for future monitoring and seed collections. This successful rediscovery underscores the need to increase support and funding for such conservation efforts.

The story of Cyanea kolekoleensis’s rediscovery, along with these photo images, puts a well-needed face on this endangered evolutionary lineage and its biologically rich habitat. The plants need these forests, and the forests need our immediate focus and protection. The loss of endemic island plants and animals, after all, is also a loss to the Hawaiian culture itself. Fortunately, there is a whole new generation of highly trained conservation biologists and horticulturalists poised to continue this work. What more will be rediscovered and what can be saved remains to be seen and depends on future conservation support.

[1] The primary specimen that serves as the best source material of what makes a species distinct from others.