Cyrtandra cyaneoides is a rare species of flowering plant in the African violet family

Gesneriaceae

Gesneriaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of ca. 150 genera and ca. 3,200 species in the Old World and New World tropics and subtropics, with a very small number extending to temperate areas. Many species have colorful and showy flowers and are cultivated as ornamental plants.Most...

 known by the common name mapele. It is endemic to Kauai

Kauai

Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...

 in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, where it is known from eleven populations containing a total of under 800 individual plants. Several of these were discovered between 2003 and 2008. It is a shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 growing 1 to 1.3 meters tall and bearing white flowers. It was federally listed as an 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...

 in 1996.

The plant grows in wet forest habitat, sometimes on cliffs or next to streams. It grows alongside other native plants such as akolea (Boehmeria grandis), hoio (Diplazium sandwichianum), ʻieʻie

Freycinetia arborea

The Ieie is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber in the screwpalm family, Pandanaceae that is endemic to the Pacific Islands. Ieie is found in moist forest on the Hawaiian, Marquesas, Austral, Society, and Cook Islands. It grows into the forest canopy, attaching itself to a host tree using...

 (Freycinetia arborea), ape ape (Gunnera kauaiensis), and several other Cyrtandra species. The understory

Understory

Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...

 also contains many fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

s and bryophyte

Bryophyte

Bryophyte is a traditional name used to refer to all embryophytes that do not have true vascular tissue and are therefore called 'non-vascular plants'. Some bryophytes do have specialized tissues for the transport of water; however since these do not contain lignin, they are not considered to be...

s such as moss

Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...

es and liverwort

Liverwort

Liverwort may refer to either*Marchantiophyta, a division of non-vascular plants*Hepatica, a genus of spring flowersliverworts are part of the bryophytes group and the bryophytes of the PlantaeIn the bryophytres group their are mosses too....

s. Many of the trees host epiphyte

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

s. The habitat is also invaded

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

 by non-native plants

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 Koster's curse

Clidemia hirta

Clidemia hirta, commonly called soapbush or Koster's Curse, is a perennial shrub.It is an invasive plant species in many tropical regions of the world, creating serious damage.-Distribution:...

 (Clidemia hirta), kahili ginger

Hedychium gardnerianum

Hedychium gardnerianum is a plant native to the Himalayas in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. It grows to 8 ft tall with long, bright green leaves clasping the tall stems. The very fragrant pale yellow and red flowers are held in dense spikes above the foliage...

 (Hedychium gardnerianum), and Australian tree fern

Cyathea cooperi

Cyathea cooperi, also known as the Australian tree fern, lacy tree fern, scaly tree fern, or Cooper’s tree fern, is a medium-to-large, fast growing tree fern native to Australia. This fern grows to in height with a thick trunk...

 (Sphaeropteris cooperi); these weeds compete

Competition (biology)

Competition is an interaction between organisms or species, in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource used by both is required. Competition both within and between species is an important topic in ecology, especially community ecology...

 with native flora for resources.

The habitat is also degraded by rat

Rat

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...

s, which eat the seeds of mapele.