''Solanum sandwicense'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the

nightshade family The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...

known by the common names Hawai'i horsenettle and ''popolo 'aiakeakua''. 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 else ...

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 state ...

, where it occurs today on the islands of Kauai and

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

. It is threatened by the destruction and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States. This plant is a shrub growing up to 5 meters tall with a stem up to 15 centimeters in diameter. It is coated in yellow-brown hairs. The leaves are oval, sometimes lobed, and measure up to 15 centimeters long by 14 wide. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is an array of flowers each 2 to 2.5 centimeters in diameter. They are purple-tinged white in color and have yellow anthers. The fruit is a juicy black spherical berry just over a centimeter wide.''Solanum sandwicense''.
The Nature Conservancy. The species is

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

from

. The last wild individual on Oahu died in the 1990s. Its seeds have been used to propagate more plants which were then outplanted in appropriate habitat. There are no more than 20 individuals remaining on Kauai.USFWS
''Solanum sandwicense'' Five-year Review.
July 2009. The plant is threatened by

feral pig The feral pig is a domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorback and wild hog are Americanisms applied to feral pigs or boar-pig hybrids. Definition A feral ...

feral goat The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra aegagrus hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of goats, all of which stem from the wild goat ...

s, and

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

. It is eaten by rats and slugs. The

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

of plants such as ''

Kalanchoe pinnata ''Kalanchoe pinnata'', commonly known as cathedral bells, air plant, life plant, miracle leaf, and Goethe plant is a succulent plant native to Madagascar. It is a popular houseplant and has become naturalized in tropical and subtropical areas. Th ...

'' (air plant) and ''

Passiflora tarminiana ''Passiflora tarminiana'' (or banana passionfruit) is a species of passionfruit. The yellow fruits are edible and their resemblance to small, straight bananas has given it the name banana passionfruit in some countries. It is native to the upl ...

'' (banana poka) degrades the habitat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7555771 sandwicense Endemic flora of Hawaii Plants described in 1832