Clermontia peleana is a rare species of flowering plant in the bellflower family

Campanulaceae

The family Campanulaceae , of the order Asterales, contains about 2000 species in 70 genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and rarely small trees, often with milky non-toxic sap...

 known by the common name Pele clermontia. It is one of several Hawaiian lobelioids

Hawaiian lobelioids

The Hawaiian lobelioids are a group of flowering plants in the bellflower family, Campanulaceae, all of which are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. This is the largest plant radiation in the Hawaiian Islands, and indeed the largest on any island archipelago, with over 125 species...

 in genus Clermontia that are known as `oha wai. This plant is endemic to the island of Hawaii

Hawaii (island)

The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...

, where it is known from a few individuals. It is a federally listed endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 of the United States.

There are two subspecies. When the plant was placed on the endangered species list, only ssp. peleana was believed extant, and it was known from eight remaining wild plants. The last of the eight died in the year 2000, and the species was then only known from one cultivated plant. Breeding efforts produced a number of seedling

Seedling

thumb|Monocot and dicot seedlingsA seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle , the hypocotyl , and the cotyledons...

s that were transplanted into the species' native habitat, and by 2007, one of them was flowering.

The other subspecies, ssp. singuliflora, was last seen on Hawaii in 1909 and Maui

Maui

The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...

 in 1920. It was declared extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

. In the summer of 2010 several actively reproducing specimens were discovered in the forests of the Hawaiian volcano

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

 Kohala

Kohala (mountain)

Kohala is the oldest of five volcanoes that make up the island of Hawaii. Kohala is an estimated one million years old—so old that it experienced, and recorded, a reversal of magnetic field 780,000 years ago. It is believed to have breached sea level more than 500,000 years ago and to...

, a place it had never been seen before. Seeds were collected and propagation efforts will be made.