Artemisia mauiensis
Maui wormwood
Family AsteraceaeAlso called hinahina, āhinahina, Maui mugwort
About
Maui wormwood is an imperilled silver-leaved shrub found only on the high slopes of Haleakalā on Maui, Hawaiʻi.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Not recorded. We have no source on whether this plant is safe for cats, dogs or other pets — that is not the same as safe. Keep it out of reach until you have checked.
- People
- Not recorded.
- Light
- Full sun, needed for the silver colour.
- Water
- Keep on the dry side; waterlogging kills it.
- Temperature
- Thrives in hot, dry conditions.
- Soil
- Very free-draining sand or cinder.
- Pot
- Grows well in containers at lower elevations.
- Mature size
- 0.6–1.8 m tall and 1.2–1.5 m wide; about 0.9 m in gardens.
Field notes
Morphology
Clumping, sprawling, non-woody shrub 0.6–1.8 m tall and 1.2–1.5 m wide, usually about 0.9 m in gardens. Finely divided feathery leaves 2.5–5 cm long carry dense silvery hairs that act as sun protection. Unshowy brownish-cream flowers; the foliage is faintly sage-scented and very bitter. Long-lived.
Distribution & habitat
Endemic to Haleakalā, Maui, at about 1,900–2,300 m on exposed volcanic rock, talus and scree and in open montane dry forest.
Cultivation notes
Needs full sun to keep its silver colour and a very free-draining sand or cinder mix in hot, dry conditions; waterlogging kills it quickly. Adapts to lower elevations and coastal sites in containers. Overfeeding makes plants lanky and less silvery.
Conservation
Ranked G2 (imperilled) by NatureServe, and N2/S2 in the United States and Hawaiʻi, but not on the US endangered species list.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
- Temperature
- Thrives in hot, dry conditions.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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