In the early 1970s, an ornamental tree was introduced to Maui for its unusual foliage, and soon it became something far more consequential. Miconia calvescens, commonly known as miconia or velvet tree, is native to Central and South America and has huge leaves with a prominent underside. What began as an ornamental planting near Hana eventually became one of Hawai’i’s most difficult invasive-plant problems. Historical records indicate that miconia was introduced to Maui from a private nursery and botanical garden near Hana. Interestingly, the exact claim that a single tree was planted in 1970 is less certain than the broader historical record. By the 1990s, the plant had escaped cultivation and spread across East Maui’s wet forests. From an ornamental tree to a forest invaderMiconia’s appearance helped make it attractive as an ornamental plant, but its biology made it exceptionally difficult to contain once it escaped cultivation. According to the US Geological Survey, the tree grows rapidly in most conditions, can tolerate shade, produces abundant seeds, and accumulates a persistent seed bank in the soil. Furthermore, birds effectively disperse its seeds, allowing new plants to establish away from existing populations. The Hawai’i Invasive Species Council described this species as one of the top threats to the state’s watersheds and forest ecosystems, warning that unmanaged individual trees retained the biological potential to introduce approximately 10 million seeds into the ecosystemper year and that these seeds can remain viable in the soil for more than 20 years. According to a historical account in the Bishop Museum’s records, miconia had become naturalized and abundant across the 41 acres of Helani Gardens near Hana by the time its threat was recognized in 1991. Because the tree had been growing undetected for nearly twenty years, the true scale of its escape quickly became clear. Following this, when conservation workers attempted to remove the cultivated population, subsequent aerial surveys revealed that bird dispersal had already carried seeds far beyond the garden's borders, establishing a massive population on adjacent state land. This timeline highlights how easily a local ornamental planting could serve as the epicenter for a landscape-scale invasion.A threat to East Maui’s watershedMiconia’s biggest ecological impact comes from its ability to form dense stands, with its enormous leaves creating a deep canopy that blocks light from reaching native vegetation beneath it, while its rapid growth allows it to compete successfully in wet forests. The USGS has described Miconia calvescens as one of the most damaging weeds of Pacific-island rainforests because of its shade tolerance, rapid growth, abundant seed production, and bird dispersal. Notably, researchers have warned that such invasions can threaten biological diversity in native forests and alter important watershed functions. 133203457The East Maui Watershed is especially significant because of its size and ecological role. Hawai’i Invasive Species Council documents describe the watershed as roughly 120,000 acres, containing habitats for threatened and endangered species alongside supplying huge quantities of freshwater through groundwater recharge. Therefore, miconia has been treated not merely as an isolated agricultural weed, but as a catastrophic threat to an entire ecosystem that supports native biodiversity and water resources. HISC has reported that coordinated control efforts have been operating on Maui since the 1990s, involving state and federal agencies, Haleakala National Park, and the Maui Invasive Species Committee. A 2018 study in Invasive Plant Science and Management analyzed more than 25 years of management data from the East Maui Watershed. The study found that 99% of miconia offspring remained within 1,800 feet of a maternal source, but the remaining 1% could disperse as far as approximately 1 mile. While an individual bird carries a seed just over a mile, these generational leaps accumulated over five decades. This step-stone expansion allowed miconia to eventually map a continuous infestation zone across East Maui, directly invading thousands of acres of the island's most critical native forest habitats. Additionally, they estimated that the soil seed bank could persist for more than 20 years. These findings show why isolated plants at the invasion’s outer edge can be disproportionately important: if distant recruits are missed, populations can rebound after established trees are removed.
