RECOVERY PLAN FOR - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The population of L½ochaeta in Area 5 of the Pohakuloa Training
Area and collections from the edge of the 1859 Mauna Loa lava flow
had been misidentified as Livochaeta venosa (see Taxonomy
section). The range of L. venosa is not considered to include
these areas.
Population Status of Lipochaeta venosa
Collectors in the first half of this century provided very little
information about the status of this plant. Rock’s collections
are accompanied by no information. Hosaka’s 1938 collection at
Site #4 simply says “rare.”
The observations between 1980 and 1984 of the five populations
known at this time report some fairly sizable colonies of
seemingly vigorous flowering and fruiting plants. The largest
population was at Site #1. Although the high density and matted
habit of the plant made an exact count impossible, it was
estimated that a total of at least 2,000 individuals were growing
in two large areas and four smaller patches (Cuddihy ~ al. 1983;
Hawaii Heritage Program EOCODE: PDAST5ZONO.002). The following
counts were reported for the other four sites: Site #2 - 90
plants; Site #4 - 709 plants; Site #5 - 1,350 plants; and
Site #6 - 24 to 48 plants (Cuddihy ~ al 1983 St. John 1984).
A fire was reported to have burned over Site #1 in 1983 (Carolyn
Corn, pers. comm. 1992). Although no Livochaeta venosa were seen
after the fire during a brief visit to the site by a botanist
(Hawaii Heritage Program EOCODE: PDASTSZONO.002), large numbers of
the plant were seen in September 1991, by a team of forestry
personnel and botanists from the National Tropical Botanical
Garden (NTBG) (Steve Bergfeld, Division of Forestry and Wildlife,
pers. comm. 1992).
The presence of “several hundred” plants at Site #5 was
reconfirmed in 1990 (5. Bergfeld, pers. comm. 1992; Hawaii
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