Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii

Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
Name	Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
Author	Warren L. Wagner, Derral R. Herbst, S. H. Sohmer
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Botany, Flora of Hawaii
Publisher	University of Hawaiʻi Press
Pub date	1990
Media type	Print
Pages	1,042
Isbn	9780824814986

Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii

The Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii is a comprehensive floristic treatment documenting the angiosperm diversity of the Hawaiian Islands. It synthesizes field observations, herbarium research, and taxonomic revisions to provide identification keys, descriptions, and distributional information for native and introduced taxa. The work connects botanical knowledge with conservation practices relevant to Hawaiian institutions and international botanical communities.

Overview

The Manual functions as a regional flora linking the botanical collections of the Bishop Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, and New York Botanical Garden with fieldwork from Haleakalā, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Kīlauea, and other Hawaiian localities. It provides dichotomous keys, morphological descriptions, and synonymies used by curators at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, researchers affiliated with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and conservationists at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The Manual has been consulted by authors contributing to regional guides such as those from the Island Press, policy-makers in the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, and international collaborators at the Royal Society and International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Publication History

First published in 1990 by the University of Hawaiʻi Press, the Manual emerged from decades of botanical work tied to institutions including the Hawaii Biological Survey, the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, and projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Editorial leadership drew on networks spanning the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Botanical Society of America, and academic departments at Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University. Distribution and indexing connected it to bibliographic services at the Library of Congress and catalogues maintained by the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the International Plant Names Index.

Contents and Taxonomic Scope

The Manual covers native Hawaiian lineages and introduced angiosperms, treating families recognized under systems advocated by contributors associated with the American Journal of Botany and taxonomic frameworks debated at meetings of the International Botanical Congress. Taxonomic treatment includes genera important to Pacific biogeography such as Metrosideros, Dubautia, Scaevola, Cyanea, and Hibiscus. The work documents endemics tied to volcanic substrates at Lōʻihi Seamount and island radiations comparable to case studies from Galápagos Islands, Madagascar, and the Canary Islands. It references type specimens curated at the Kew Herbarium, Gray Herbarium, and the U.S. National Herbarium and integrates nomenclatural decisions influenced by rulings from the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and discussions in journals like Taxon.

Authors and Contributors

Leading authors included botanists employed by the University of Hawaiʻi, with contributors and reviewers from institutions such as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, California Academy of Sciences, Australian National University, and the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Field collectors and taxonomists associated with the Hawaiian Plant Research Center and volunteers from organizations like the Nature Conservancy and Sierra Club provided specimen records. Peer review and specialist input involved researchers publishing in venues including Systematic Botany, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Impact and Reception

Scholars in Pacific biogeography, island evolution, and conservation biology at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and University of Cambridge have cited the Manual in studies comparing Hawaiian adaptive radiations to those of Darwin's finches and research programs funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Conservation agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and IUCN red-list assessments have used its distributions to prioritize endangered taxa. The Manual influenced subsequent floras and field guides published by the University of Hawaii Press and informed curricula at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and botanical training at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Editions and Revisions

Although a single major edition was published in 1990, the Manual's taxonomic conclusions have been revised through journal articles, monographs, and online databases maintained by entities such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Tropicos, and the International Plant Names Index. Subsequent regional checklists and revisions have been issued by the Hawaiian Plant Specialist Group and researchers affiliated with the Bishop Museum and the National Tropical Botanical Garden, while integrative genomic studies from laboratories at Stanford University and University of California, San Diego have prompted nomenclatural updates reflected in herbarium annotations.

Category:Flora of Hawaii