Kahili Ridge Yellow Loosestrife: A Lost Hawaiian Treasure
Meet Kahili Ridge yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia kahiliensis), a Hawaiian native plant that tells one of conservation’s most sobering stories. This perennial shrub once called the islands home, but today it exists only in our botanical records and the hopes of researchers who dream of its rediscovery.
A Plant Lost to Time
Here’s the heartbreaking reality: Lysimachia kahiliensis carries a Global Conservation Status of SH, which stands for Possibly Extirpated. In plain English, this means scientists believe this plant may be gone forever from the wild, known only from historical records. There’s still a glimmer of hope for rediscovery, but it’s been missing from its native Hawaiian landscapes for quite some time.
What We Know About This Hawaiian Native
Lysimachia kahiliensis was a perennial shrub native exclusively to Hawaii. As a multi-stemmed woody plant, it typically grew to heights of 13 to 16 feet, though it could sometimes reach taller heights or develop a single stem depending on environmental conditions.
This plant was part of Hawaii’s unique native flora, found nowhere else on Earth. Its geographic distribution was limited to the Hawaiian Islands, making its potential loss even more significant for the state’s biodiversity.
Why You Can’t (and Shouldn’t Try to) Grow It
If you’re hoping to add this plant to your garden, we have to deliver some disappointing news. Since Lysimachia kahiliensis is possibly extirpated, it’s not available through any legitimate nursery or seed source. More importantly, if any specimens were miraculously discovered, they would need to be:
- Protected in their natural habitat
- Carefully studied by botanists and conservation experts
- Used exclusively for species recovery efforts
- Never harvested for private cultivation
The Bigger Picture
The story of Kahili Ridge yellow loosestrife serves as a powerful reminder of why native plant conservation matters. Hawaii has lost many of its endemic species due to habitat destruction, invasive species, and climate change. Each lost species represents millions of years of unique evolutionary history that can never be replaced.
What You Can Do Instead
While you can’t grow Lysimachia kahiliensis, you can make a difference for Hawaiian native plants that still have a fighting chance:
- Choose other native Hawaiian plants for your landscape if you live in appropriate zones
- Support organizations working on native plant conservation in Hawaii
- Never collect plants from the wild
- Report any unusual plants you might encounter to local botanical authorities
- Advocate for habitat protection and restoration
Sometimes the most important gardening lesson isn’t about what to plant, but about understanding what we’ve already lost—and working to ensure we don’t lose any more of these irreplaceable natural treasures.
