Cyanea comata
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Cyanea comata (English name: "Hairy-tuft Cyanea") is an extinct Hawaiian plant fromthe bellflower family (Campanulaceae). It was endemic to Maui .
description
Cyanea comata was a branching shrub that reached maximum heights of 1.6 to 2.6 meters. The leaves were 15 to 30 centimeters long and were oblanceolate to obovate. The inflorescence was pendulous and up to a meter long. Each inflorescence consisted of six to twelve strongly curved, light purple flowers 55 millimeters long.
Due to its flower shape could bird species such as the Iiwi that Kraus tails or Nukupu'u have been possible pollinators.
distribution and habitat
The habitat for Cyanea comata were the semi-arid forests on the west side of Haleakalā on Maui at an altitude between 915 and 1220 meters above sea level.
die out
Cyanea comata is only known from a collection by Wilhelm Hillebrand from August 1870. Today only a fragment of the lectotype remains in the herbarium of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum .
The conversion of the semi-arid forests of Maui to pastureland at the beginning of the 19th century as well as overgrazing and introduced plant species ( neophytes ) such as grasses and eucalyptus probably contributed to the extermination of this plant species in the 1880s.
literature
- Warren L. Wagner, Derral R. Herbst, SH Sohmer: Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i. University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.
- Walton Beacham: World Wildlife Fund Guide to Extinct Species of Modern Times. 1997, ISBN 0933833407 .
Web links
- Cyanea comata in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Bruegmann, MM & Caraway, V., 2003. Retrieved on 27 May of 2007.