Cyrtandra polyantha 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 names Niu Valley cyrtandra. It is endemic to the 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 only from the Koʻolau Mountains of Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

. In 2007 there were only two populations containing a total of 46 mature plants, but one of the two populations is made up of a single individual. 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 1994. Like other Hawaiian Cyrtandra it is called ha`iwale.

The plant grows in ridgetop forests in steep habitat that can only be accessed by rappelling

Abseiling

Abseiling , rappelling in American English, is the controlled descent down a rock face using a rope; climbers use this technique when a cliff or slope is too steep and/or dangerous to descend without protection.- Slang terms :...

 down to the area. 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 3 meters tall. It bears white flowers in October and white, fleshy fruit by January. Little else is known about the life history of the plant. The habitat on these mountain slopes is degraded by a number of forces, including feral pigs and exotic 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...

, especially pamakani haole

Ageratina adenophora

Ageratina adenophora is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by many common names, including eupatory, sticky snakeroot, crofton weed, and Mexican devil.- Description :...

 (Ageratina adenophora). Other potential threats include 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, snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

s, slug

Slug

Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...

s, and researchers and conservationists who inadvertently collect too many of the seeds. Many seeds have been collected and some seedlings grown in the nursery; a few of these have been planted in an enclosure and appear to be thriving.