On a visit to Maui just last week, I had the honor of seeing the most amazing plant ever. It only exists in the crater of Haleakula, which is the dormant volcano that dominates the east side of the island. The following is the great description on the national park website: https://www.nps.gov/hale/learn/nature/silversword.htm.

“The silvery hairs, fleshy leaves, and low-growing rosette form of the Haleakalā silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum) allow it to survive in hot, dry climates like the aeolian desert cinder slopes of the crater. Silverswords live between 3 and 90 years or more. They flower once, sending up a spectacular flowering stalk, and then die soon afterward, scattering drying seeds to the wind.

Delicate silverswords (‘ahinahina), once ripped up and taken home by visitors as souvenirs, now depend on management efforts for survival. Park staff fence silversword-munching ungulates out, destroy non-native plants that would crowd out silverswords, and educate park visitors to stay on trails to avoid stepping on fragile silversword seedlings and root systems.

Climate change may now present a new threat to these charismatic plants. Hotter temperatures and lower rainfall may threaten even the hardy silversword. Researchers with the University of Hawai’i are actively working with park staff to evaluate the effects of drought conditions on silverswords, and preserve these unique plants for generations to come.”

Few plants have brought me to tears… but this one did. So rare and delicate, living its long life to reproduce once at the end, filling the air with seeds and then quietly fading away. Amazing.