Federal protection sought for Lana'i tree

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday added one plant species from Hawai'i to its list of candidates for federal protection, while removing another.

The Lana'i hala pepe, a flowering tree species, is one of 26 new candidate species on the agency's list of plants and animals that probably warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, according to revised list published yesterday.

The list represents species that qualify for endangered or threatened status but essentially have to wait in line before listing.

The hala pepe (Pleomele fernaldii) is one of six related species known as hala pepe. Found throughout the islands, the hala pepe has tufts of long, strap-like leaves and tubular yellow flowers. It was one of the five standard plants used to decorate the altar of Laka, the goddess of hula.

While the Big Island hala pepe is already on the endangered species list, the other related species are more abundant, though scarce, said Ken Foote of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

On Lana'i, where the hala pepe has shorter flowers than its cousins, there are only three populations left, with as many as 200 individuals, found in the dry, leeward forests.

A Hawaiian fern with no common name was one of 19 species removed from the candidate species list.

Foote said Dryopteris glabra var. pusilla was previously treated as one of six separate species but now all are recognized as varieties of one species, Dryopteris glabra, which occurs widely in forests throughout the major islands.

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.