Post by Melanie on Apr 1, 2007 3:25:16 GMT 1
The French naturalist and ethnologist Ezechiel Jules Remy first
collected Cyanea remyi on Kauai or Niihau between 1851 and 1855. The
specimen, labelled as an unidentified Delissea, languished in the
herbarium of the Natural History Museum in Paris until Joseph F. Rock
formally described it and named it in honor of the collector, in 1917.
In the current treatment of the family, Lammers (1990) surmised that
the taxon may be synonymous with Cyanea truncata due, at that time, to
the inadequate material available for study. However, several recent
collections by botanists from NTBG have confirmed the distinctness of
this species (Lammers 1993; Thomas Lammers, Field Museum of Natural
History, and S. Perlman, pers. comms., 1994).
Cyanea remyi, a member of the bellflower family, is a shrub 0.9 to
2 m (3 to 6.6 ft) tall with generally unbranched stems 1 to 2.5 cm (0.4
to 1 in) in diameter. The stems are erect, unarmed (lacking prickles),
dark purple and hairy toward the apex, and brown and hairless below.
The leaves are broadly elliptic, egg-shaped, or broadly oblong, and 16
to 40 cm (6 to 16 in) long and 9.5 to 19.5 cm (3.7 to 7.7 in) wide. The
upper leaf surface is green, glossy, and hairless. The lower leaf
surface is whitish green and glossy with scattered short white hairs on
the midrib and veins. The leaf margins are hardened and slightly
toothed. The inflorescence rises upward, contains 6 to 23 flowers, and
is covered with short white hairs. The dark maroon sepal lobes are
triangular or narrowly triangular, spreading or ascending, and 4 to 6
mm (0.2 in) long and 1 to 2 mm (0.04 to 0.08 in) wide. The tubular
flowers, 40 to 53 mm (2 in) long, have two lips, are dark purple
(shading to purplish white at the apex of the lobes on their inner
surface), and are densely covered with short white hairs. The flower
tube is curved, 30 to 31 mm (1 in) long and 5 to 5.5 mm (0.2 in) in
diameter. The staminal column is slightly protruding. The maroon or
dark purple fruit is a round berry, 10 to 13 mm (0.4 to 0.5 in) in
diameter, with orange flesh and small projections on the outer surface.
Cyanea remyi is distinguished from others in the genus that grow on
Kauai by its shrubby habit; relatively slender, unarmed (lacking
prickles) stems; smooth or minutely toothed leaves; densely hairy
flowers; the shape of the calyx lobes; length of the calyx and corolla,
and length of the corolla lobe relative to the floral tube (Lammers and
Lorence 1993).
Cyanea remyi was originally known only from Remy's nineteenth
century collection. In 1991, after more than 130 years, Cyanea remyi
was rediscovered in the Blue Hole on Kauai by botanists from NTBG.
Currently, this species is known from four widely separated locations
in northeastern and southeastern Kauai: a population of 14 plants in
Waioli Valley; several hundred plants at the base of Mount Waialeale;
about 140 to 180 plants in the Wahiawa Mountains, near Hulua; and a
population of about 10 to 50 plants on the summit plateau of the
Makaleha Mountains. This species, therefore, totals over several
hundred plants on State and private land. Cyanea remyi is usually found
in lowland wet forest or shrubland at an elevation of 360 to 930 m
(1,180 to 3,060 ft). Associated plant species include hame, kanawao,
'ohi'a, Freycinetia arborea ('ie'ie), and Perrottetia sandwicensis
(olomea) (HHP 1992, 1994e; HPCC 1991a1, 1991a2, 1992c; Lorence and
Flynn 1991, 1993a, 1993b).
Competition with the alien plant species fireweed, Hilo grass,
Psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), thimbleberry, and Melastoma
candidum; habitat degradation by feral pigs; browsing by goats;
predation by rats; unidentified slugs that feed on the stems; and a
risk of extinction from naturally occurring events, due to the small
number of remaining populations, are the major threats to Cyanea remyi
(HPCC 1991a1, 1991a2, 1992c; Lorence and Flynn 1991, 1993b; S. Perlman,
pers. comm., 1994).
In 1909, J.F. Rock collected a plant specimen on Kauai which he
named Cyrtandra cyaneoides (Rock 1913a). The specific epithet refers to
the resemblance of this distinctive plan to a species of the endemic
Hawaiian genus Cyanea.
collected Cyanea remyi on Kauai or Niihau between 1851 and 1855. The
specimen, labelled as an unidentified Delissea, languished in the
herbarium of the Natural History Museum in Paris until Joseph F. Rock
formally described it and named it in honor of the collector, in 1917.
In the current treatment of the family, Lammers (1990) surmised that
the taxon may be synonymous with Cyanea truncata due, at that time, to
the inadequate material available for study. However, several recent
collections by botanists from NTBG have confirmed the distinctness of
this species (Lammers 1993; Thomas Lammers, Field Museum of Natural
History, and S. Perlman, pers. comms., 1994).
Cyanea remyi, a member of the bellflower family, is a shrub 0.9 to
2 m (3 to 6.6 ft) tall with generally unbranched stems 1 to 2.5 cm (0.4
to 1 in) in diameter. The stems are erect, unarmed (lacking prickles),
dark purple and hairy toward the apex, and brown and hairless below.
The leaves are broadly elliptic, egg-shaped, or broadly oblong, and 16
to 40 cm (6 to 16 in) long and 9.5 to 19.5 cm (3.7 to 7.7 in) wide. The
upper leaf surface is green, glossy, and hairless. The lower leaf
surface is whitish green and glossy with scattered short white hairs on
the midrib and veins. The leaf margins are hardened and slightly
toothed. The inflorescence rises upward, contains 6 to 23 flowers, and
is covered with short white hairs. The dark maroon sepal lobes are
triangular or narrowly triangular, spreading or ascending, and 4 to 6
mm (0.2 in) long and 1 to 2 mm (0.04 to 0.08 in) wide. The tubular
flowers, 40 to 53 mm (2 in) long, have two lips, are dark purple
(shading to purplish white at the apex of the lobes on their inner
surface), and are densely covered with short white hairs. The flower
tube is curved, 30 to 31 mm (1 in) long and 5 to 5.5 mm (0.2 in) in
diameter. The staminal column is slightly protruding. The maroon or
dark purple fruit is a round berry, 10 to 13 mm (0.4 to 0.5 in) in
diameter, with orange flesh and small projections on the outer surface.
Cyanea remyi is distinguished from others in the genus that grow on
Kauai by its shrubby habit; relatively slender, unarmed (lacking
prickles) stems; smooth or minutely toothed leaves; densely hairy
flowers; the shape of the calyx lobes; length of the calyx and corolla,
and length of the corolla lobe relative to the floral tube (Lammers and
Lorence 1993).
Cyanea remyi was originally known only from Remy's nineteenth
century collection. In 1991, after more than 130 years, Cyanea remyi
was rediscovered in the Blue Hole on Kauai by botanists from NTBG.
Currently, this species is known from four widely separated locations
in northeastern and southeastern Kauai: a population of 14 plants in
Waioli Valley; several hundred plants at the base of Mount Waialeale;
about 140 to 180 plants in the Wahiawa Mountains, near Hulua; and a
population of about 10 to 50 plants on the summit plateau of the
Makaleha Mountains. This species, therefore, totals over several
hundred plants on State and private land. Cyanea remyi is usually found
in lowland wet forest or shrubland at an elevation of 360 to 930 m
(1,180 to 3,060 ft). Associated plant species include hame, kanawao,
'ohi'a, Freycinetia arborea ('ie'ie), and Perrottetia sandwicensis
(olomea) (HHP 1992, 1994e; HPCC 1991a1, 1991a2, 1992c; Lorence and
Flynn 1991, 1993a, 1993b).
Competition with the alien plant species fireweed, Hilo grass,
Psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), thimbleberry, and Melastoma
candidum; habitat degradation by feral pigs; browsing by goats;
predation by rats; unidentified slugs that feed on the stems; and a
risk of extinction from naturally occurring events, due to the small
number of remaining populations, are the major threats to Cyanea remyi
(HPCC 1991a1, 1991a2, 1992c; Lorence and Flynn 1991, 1993b; S. Perlman,
pers. comm., 1994).
In 1909, J.F. Rock collected a plant specimen on Kauai which he
named Cyrtandra cyaneoides (Rock 1913a). The specific epithet refers to
the resemblance of this distinctive plan to a species of the endemic
Hawaiian genus Cyanea.
