Myrsine knudsenii is a species of 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...

 in the myrsine

Myrsinaceae

Myrsinaceae, or the Myrsine family, is a rather large family from the order Ericales. It consists of 35 genera and about 1000 species....

 family. It is endemic to the island of 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",...

 in 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 is threatened by habitat loss.

This is a shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 or tree growing up to 4.5 meters tall with flowers occurring in clusters along the branches. It grows in moist forests dominated by Acacia koa, 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...

, and 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...

. It probably once occurred in several other types of ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....

.

There are three populations left, for a total of about 30 trees. It was federally listed as an endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

of the United States in 2010.

Source

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. Myrsine knudsenii. 2010 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 5 June 2011.