A new website, kapalupaluokanaloa.org, was created to tell the amazing story of the Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa plant and help promote conservation efforts. Photo courtesy National Tropical Botanical Garden

A new website is dedicated to sharing the story of a critically endangered native Nawaiian plant thought lost to history until it was rediscovered on a rocky outcropping on Kaho’olawe in 1992.

According to the Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources, there are only about about 20 Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa left in the world, and the kapalupaluokanaloa.org website was created to share their incredible story of resilience. The site is also intended to help restore Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa, a plant that Native Hawaiians have tended to for over a thousand years, so the species can resume its ecological and cultural roles across Hawaiʻi.

According to the department, Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa was once widespread until the plant disappeared from pollen records around the 16th century. However, the species was rediscovered on Kahoʻolawe by botanists Ken Wood and Steve Perlman of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

In fact, the two wild plants that were discovered represented a plant genus that was previously unknown to botanists. But the living plant’s pollen matched a previously unidentified fossil pollen and that helped unlock the history of this species, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“The rediscovery of this plant was particularly notable in that it was found on Kahoʻolawe, an island that has faced many ecological challenges after being used for bombing practice by the U.S. Armed Forces,” the department noted in a news release.

In addition to being used for bombing practice by the military, the island is also relatively dry, receiving less than 26 inches of precipitation annually.

According to the department, both the amazing endurance and resilience of this plant have special significance for Native Hawaiians, as Kahoʻolawe is a kino, or sacred form, of Kanaloa, the Hawaiian god of the ocean and marine life.

However, following the plant’s rediscovery, horticulturalists worked to propagate Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa, but found only limited success.

The department says the two wild plants had died by 2015, and by 2020 only two plants remained in cultivation. Then both plants — the only ones remaining in the world — bloomed simultaneously.

One of the plants then produced seeds, providing a lifeline for the species to continue. Today, through the efforts of the Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa Hui and many hands, the total population of this plant is around 20.

“This partnership is vital for the survival of Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa because even the best horticulturist in the world will not have success 100% of the time,” said Dr. Mike Opgenorth, Director of the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s Kahanu Garden and Preserve on Maui. “There is great benefit to having multiple perspectives working with such a rare plant. It’s not any one organization, agency or individual — it’s a team effort that shares the responsibility for perpetuating the plant.”

“What we are doing in plant conservation is working. Over the last 20 years, more plants have been saved in cultivation than ever before,” added DOFAW botanist Dr. Matt Keir. “Together we can grow a brighter tomorrow for Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa.”

The new Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa website also suggests ways that residents can support the resurgence of Ka Palupalu o Kanaloa and help ensure its future.