Cyrtandra dentata is a rare species of flowering plant in the African violet family

Gesneriaceae

Gesneriaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of ca. 150 genera and ca. 3,200 species in the Old World and New World tropics and subtropics, with a very small number extending to temperate areas. Many species have colorful and showy flowers and are cultivated as ornamental plants.Most...

 known by the common names mountain cyrtandra and sharp-toothed cyrtandra. It is endemic to Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

 in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, where the most recent count estimates 1640 plants occurring in the Waianae Mountains

Waianae Range

Waianae Range is the eroded remains of an ancient shield volcano that comprises the western half of the Hawaiian Island of Oahu...

 and Koʻolau Mountains. It is a shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 which can reach 5 meters tall and bears white flowers. It was federally listed as an endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 in 1996. Like other Hawaiian Cyrtandra it is called ha`iwale.

One threat to the species is habitat degradation caused by feral pigs. Some individuals of this species are protected from pig damage by fences put up by the US Army. These enclosures also protect the plant from rat

Rat

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...

s. The plant grows in moist forest that becomes dry in the dry season and is prone to fire, more so when there are military exercise

Military exercise

A military exercise is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat...

s in the area, and the plant does not tolerate fire. There is also an invasion

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

 by non-native plants

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 such as Koster's curse

Clidemia hirta

Clidemia hirta, commonly called soapbush or Koster's Curse, is a perennial shrub.It is an invasive plant species in many tropical regions of the world, creating serious damage.-Distribution:...

 (Clidemia hirta), thimbleberry

Rubus rosifolius

Rubus rosifolius, also known as roseleaf bramble, West Indian raspberry, thimbleberry and ola'a...

 (Rubus rosifolius), and Christmas berry (Schinus terebinthifolius).

The US Army is collecting and storing seeds of this species.