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Concept
Kanaloa kahoolawensis
Summary
Kanaloa kahoolawensis, the Ka palupalu o Kanaloa or kohe malama malama o kanaloa, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae and is endemic to Hawaii. Kanaloa is a monotypic genus with the single species Kanaloa kahoolawensis.
Kanaloa was discovered in 1992 by the botanists Ken Wood and Steve Perlman of the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kahoolawe, a small island that was formerly used as a bombing range. Kahoolawe was a penal colony for the Hawaiian monarchy from 1826 to 1853, after which it was leased for ranching. Dry weather and ranching have devastated the island's vegetation. Only two wild plants of Kanaloa kahoolawensis have been observed growing on the island. The genus and species were formally named by Lorence and Wood in 1994. The genus name honors the Hawaiian deity Kanaloa, who according to legend used the island to rest and regain his energies. Scholars and native Hawaiian activists both agree that Kanaloa is from the original name "Kohemalamalama O Kanaloa"., which translates as the place or womb for the resuscitation of Kanaloa. According to Lorence & Wood (1994), Kanaloa means, "secure, firm, immovable, established, unconquerable...Such attributes are certainly essential for this plant to have survived in spite of the severe degradation of the island". The specific epithet kahoolawensis is from the island Kahoolawe where the first species was discovered.
Only two plants have ever been found in the wild. The single remaining plant grows on the cliffs of Aleale Puuloae on a sea stack off the coast of the Kahoolawe. Soils are oxisols derived from basaltic lavas at an elevation of 45–60 m. It is possible that the range of this species previously included other Hawaiian islands; fossilized pollen from plants likely to be in the same genus has been found in core samples taken from sinkholes in Oahu's Ewa Plain, Maui, and Kauai's Makauwahi Cave. Whether the pollen grains in the samples belong to K. kahoolawensis cannot be determined.
Official source
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