Clermontia pyrularia 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 names Hamakua clermontia and pear 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 and haha. It 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 there is one remaining wild population containing 15 individuals and several propagated individuals that have been planted in protected habitat. This 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.

This is a small tree which grows in Metrosideros polymorpha

Metrosideros polymorpha

The ōhia lehua is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaii. It is a highly variable tree, being tall in favorable situations, and much smaller when growing in boggy soils or on basalt...

and Acacia koa dominated montane wet and subalpine

Subalpine

The subalpine zone is the biotic zone immediately below tree line around the world. Species that occur in this zone depend on the location of the zone on the Earth, for example, Snow Gum in Australia, or Subalpine Larch, Mountain Hemlock and Subalpine Fir in western North America.Trees in the...

 dry forests

Hawaiian tropical dry forests

The Hawaiian tropical dry forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of on the leeward side of the main islands and the summits of Niihau and Kahoolawe. These forests are either seasonal or sclerophyllous. Annual rainfall is less than and...

 on the slopes of Mauna Loa

Mauna Loa

Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, and the largest on Earth in terms of volume and area covered. It is an active shield volcano, with a volume estimated at approximately , although its peak is about lower than that...

 and Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea is a volcano on the island of Hawaii. Standing above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii. However, much of the mountain is under water; when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over tall—significantly taller than Mount Everest...

 between 3000 and 7000 ft (914.4 and 2,133.6 m). Associated plants include Lythrum maritimum and Rubus hawaiensis

Rubus hawaiensis

Rubus hawaiensis, also called the Ākala, is a species of Rubus endemic to Hawaii. It is found on the islands of Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii in mesic to wet forest at elevations of...

. It has toothed leaf blades borne on winged petioles

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

. The plant blooms in November and December in greenish white double-lipped flowers with green-tipped sepal

Sepal

A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...

s. Pear

Pear

The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....

-shaped fruits occur soon after.

Threats to this rare plant include feral pigs, black rat

Black Rat

The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...

s, and introduced plant species

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 such as banana passionfruit (Passiflora mollissima), weeping rice grass

Microlaena stipoides

Microlaena stipoides or Ehrharta stipoides, is a species of grass that occurs naturally in all states of Australia as well as in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines. It has also been introduced into Hawaii and Reunion Island and has been reported as invasive in both...

 (Ehrharta stipoides), and kikuyu grass

Pennisetum clandestinum

The tropical grass species Pennisetum clandestinum is known by several common names, most often kikuyu grass, as it is native to the region of East Africa that is home to the Kĩkũyũ tribe. Because of its rapid growth and aggressive nature, it is categorised as a noxious weed in some regions...

 (Pennisetum clandestinum). The plant also likely suffers from the loss of several native nectar-feeding

Nectarivore

In zoology, nectarivore is an animal which eats the sugar-rich nectar produced by flowering plants. Most nectarivores are insects or birds, but there are also nectarivorous mammals, notably several species of bats in the Southwestern United States and Mexico, as well as the Australian Honey Possum...

 birds which once pollinated

Pollination

Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains transport the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...

 it, and fruit-eating

Frugivore

A frugivore is a fruit eater. It can be any type of herbivore or omnivore where fruit is a preferred food type. Because approximately 20% of all mammalian herbivores also eat fruit, frugivory is considered to be common among mammals. Since frugivores eat a lot of fruit they are highly dependent...

 birds which dispersed

Seed dispersal

Seed dispersal is the movement or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and consequently rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their propagules, including both abiotic and biotic vectors. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant...

 its seeds.

A few populations have been planted in Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge

Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge

Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area on the Big Island of Hawaii. It is one of two units, along with the Kona Forest National Wildlife Refuge that is managed as part of the Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex...

.

External links

• USDA Plants Profile