''Melicope adscendens'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the citrus family known by the common name auwahi melicope.USDA Plants Profile
/ref>''Melicope adscendens''.
The Nature Conservancy. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, where it is known only from the island of

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

. It is a federally listed

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

of the United States. Like other Hawaiian ''Melicope'', this species is known as ''alani''.USFWS
Species Reports: Plants.
/ref> This is a

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

with long, slender branching stems and

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s of 1 to 3 flowers. It grows in degraded forest habitat on the slopes of the

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

Haleakalā. There is a single plant on state-owned property, and perhaps 25 more on private property.USFWS
''Melicope adscendens'' Five-year Review.
January 2008. The solitary plant on state land is protected in an enclosure in the Kanaio Natural Area Reserve, and it is producing fruit. None of the other plants have been observed reproducing. This plant is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. The slopes of the volcano are used as pastures for grazing cattle, and various types of feral

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...

s are present, such as feral pigs, Axis deer, and feral goats. Many species of non-native plants are present in the area, including balloon plant (''Asclepias physocarpa''),

beggarticks ''Bidens'' is a genus of flowering plants in the aster family (biology), family, Asteraceae.''Bi ...

(''Bidens pilosa''), lantana (''Lantana camara''), prickly pear (''Opuntia ficus-indica''), and

kikuyu grass The tropical Poaceae, grass species ''Cenchrus clandestinus'' (previously Pennisetum clandestinum) is known by several common names, most often kikuyu grass, as it is native to the highland regions of East Africa that is home to the Kikuyu peop ...

(''Pennisetum clandestinum'').

References

* * adscendens Endemic flora of Hawaii Biota of Maui {{Rutaceae-stub