Kokia kauaiensis, the Kauai Kokio, is a species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

 in the mallow

Malva

Malva is a genus of about 25–30 species of herbaceous annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae , one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of...

 family, Malvaceae

Malvaceae

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species. Judd & al. Well known members of this family include okra, jute and cacao...

, that is endemic to Kauai

Kauai

Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

.

It inhabits coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations of 350–660 m (1,148.3–2,165.4 ft). Associated plants include ahakea (Bobea

Bobea

Bobea is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. All species in this genus are endemic to Hawaii. . Bobea was named for Jean-Baptiste Bobe-Moreau by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré in 1830 in his book Voyage de l'Uranie.The wood of Bobea is hard, wearable, and yellow. It was used...

spp.), koa (Acacia koa), lama (Diospyros sandwicensis

Diospyros sandwicensis

Diospyros sandwicensis is a species of flowering tree in the ebony family, Ebenaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. Its common name, Lama, also means enlightenment in Hawaiian. Lama is a small to medium-sized tree, with a height of and a trunk diameter of . It can be found in dry, coastal mesic,...

), manono (Hedyotis

Hedyotis

Hedyotis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Many species of this genus such as Hedyotis biflora, H. corymbosa and H. diffusa are well known medicinal plants. The hedyotis is native to tropical and subtropical Asia and to islands of the northwest Pacific. It comprises about...

spp.), hala pepe (Pleomele aurea

Pleomele aurea

Pleomele aurea is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Kauai in Hawaii. It inhabits coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations of . It is a small evergreen tree, usually tall, but sometimes reaches . The gray, straight trunk does not have bark and is in...

), aupaka (Isodendrion spp.), papala kepau (Pisonia

Pisonia

Pisonia is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso . Certain species in this genus are known as Catchbirdtrees because their sticky seeds reportedly trap small birds...

spp.), olopua (Nestegis sandwicensis

Nestegis sandwicensis

Nestegis sandwicensis, commonly known as Olopua, is a species of flowering tree in the olive family, Oleaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. It is found on all major islands at elevations of in coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests, and, especially, dry forests...

), ōhia hā (Syzygium

Syzygium

Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1100 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific...

 sandwicensis

Syzygium sandwicensis

Syzygium sandwicensis is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. Common names include Ōhia ha, Hā, and Pāihi. It is normally a large tree, reaching a height of and a trunk diameter of , but is a shrub on exposed ridges...

), hame (Antidesma

Antidesma

Antidesma is a species of tropical plant in the Phyllanthaceae. This is a variable plant which may be short and shrubby or tall and erect, approaching 30 meters in height.It has large oval shaped leathery evergreen leaves up to about 20 centimeters long and seven wide. The flowers have a strong,...

spp.), maile

Maile

Alyxia oliviformis, known as Maile in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that is native to Hawaii. It grows as either a twining liana, scandent shrub, or small erect shrub, and is one of the few vines that are endemic to the islands. The scientific...

 (Alyxia oliviformis), ālaa (Pouteria sandwicensis

Pouteria sandwicensis

Pouteria sandwicensis is a species of flowering tree in the sapodilla family, Sapotaceae, that is endemic to the main islands of Hawaii. Names for this species in the Hawaiian language include Ālaa, Āulu and Ēlaa....

), aiai (Streblus pendulinus

Streblus pendulinus

Streblus pendulinus, commonly known as Hawaiian Roughbush or Aiai , is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry family, Moraceae, that is native to eastern Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. It is usually a small tree or shrub, reaching a height of with a trunk diameter of...

), alahee (Psydrax odorata

Psydrax odorata

Psydrax odorata, known as Alahee in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering shrub or small tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, that is native to the Pacific Islands, Malesia and Australasia...

), uluhe (Dicranopteris linearis

Dicranopteris linearis

Dicranopteris linearis is a common species of fern known by many common names, including Old World forked fern and uluhe . It is one of the most widely distributed ferns of the wet Old World tropics and adjacent regions, including Polynesia and the Pacific...

), aloalo (Hibiscus

Hawaiian hibiscus

Hawaiian hibiscus are the seven known species of hibiscus regarded as native to Hawaii. Although tourists regularly associate the hibiscus flower with their experiences visiting the US state of Hawaii, and the plant family Malvaceae includes a relatively large number of species that are native to...

spp.), mēhamehame (Flueggea neowawraea

Flueggea neowawraea

Flueggea neowawraea, Mēhamehame, is a species of flowering tree in the Bignay family, Phyllanthaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. It can be found in dry, coastal mesic, and mixed mesic forests at elevations of...

), alani (Melicope

Melicope

Melicope is a genus of about 230 species of shrubs and trees in the family Rutaceae, occurring from the Hawaiian Islands across the Pacific to tropical Asia, Australia and New Zealand...

spp.), palapalai lau lii (Asplenium

Asplenium

Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns, often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though other authors consider Hymenasplenium separate, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, a different chromosome count, and structural differences in the rhizomes...

 laciniatum), oheohe (Tetraplasandra

Tetraplasandra

Tetraplasandra is a genus of flowering plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. It comprises seven species, all of which are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.-Species:*Tetraplasandra flynnii Lowry & K.R.Wood...

spp.), akoko (Euphorbia celastroides

Euphorbia celastroides

Euphorbia celastroides, sometimes also known as Chamaesyce celastroides, is a species of spurge closely related to the poinsettia. This species develops into a round-shape shrub. This species is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. E...

), nehe (Lipochaeta

Lipochaeta

Lipochaeta is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae.-Selected species:*Lipochaeta connata DC. – Nehe *Lipochaeta degeneri Sherff – Molokai Nehe...

 fauriei), aalii (Dodonaea viscosa

Dodonaea viscosa

Dodonaea viscosa is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia and Australasia.-Description:...

), iliahi (Santalum

Santalum

Santalum is a genus of woody flowering plants, the best known and commercially valuable of which is the Indian Sandalwood tree, S. album. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites which photosynthesize their own food but tap the roots of other species for water and...

spp.), poolā (Claoxylon

Claoxylon

Claoxylon is a flowering plant genus in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, comprising dioecious subshrubs to small trees. The genus comprises about 80 species, distributed in paleotropical areas: Madagascar through South and Southeast Asia, Malesia to Melanesia, Hawaii, and Australia. Half of the...

 sandwicense), and ōhia lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha

Metrosideros polymorpha

The ōhia lehua is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaii. It is a highly variable tree, being tall in favorable situations, and much smaller when growing in boggy soils or on basalt...

).

Kauai Kokio is a small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

, reaching a height of 5–10 m (16.4–32.8 ft). It is threatened by habitat loss.

Today there are about 45 or 50 individuals remaining. At one point there was only a single tree remaining.