`Akoko (Euphorbia skottsbergii var. vaccinioides)

Photo Credit: G.D. Carr

Global Rank: T1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Euphorbiaceae
State: HI
Nature Serve ID: 158691
Lifeform: Subshrub, Shrub
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

Where is `Akoko (Euphorbia skottsbergii var. vaccinioides) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

`Akoko can be found in Hawaii

Which CPC Partners conserve `Akoko (Euphorbia skottsbergii var. vaccinioides)?

Waimea Arboretum Foundation

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Chamaesyce skottsbergii var. vaccinioides is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It has been recorded from the islands of Molokai, Maui, and Kahoolawe. On Maui, it is only known from a single specimen collected in 1920 on the south slope of Haleakala (East Maui). There are only two Kahoolawe specimens. One was collected in 1913 on the east coast. The second specimen was collected on the south coast in 1980, when a single plant was found. On Molokai, the taxon is still locally abundant, although the numbers most likely have dropped significantly as a result of large brushfires burning through much of the taxon's range in recent years. Prior to the fires it was thought that the number of mature plants might be be in the range of 3,000-5,000 (Lau 2000). Historic reasons for the decline of this taxon on Molokai include the conversion of much of West Molokai to agricultural land in the early 1900's, and cattle grazing, which continues today. Other contempory threat factors are deer, feral pigs and goats, and the spread of alien plant species.

David Orr

01/01/2010

Questionable number of populations with individuals numbering anywhere from 1000 to 5000. Found on Moloka`i only (USFWS 2001).