'Ihi (Portulaca molokiniensis)

Photo credit, Forest and Kim Starr

Photo credit, Forest and Kim Starr

  Off the coast of Maui is a small crescent shaped bird sanctuary island called Molokini.  It is the edge of a volcanic crater that rises just above sea level.  A succulent plant called the 'ihi is only found in the wild in two places, one is on Molokini and the other is on the nearby small island of Kaho'olawe, that was used as a live fire target by the US military and today is also off limits. 

'Ihi (Portulaca molokiniensis) is in the « purslane » family, portulacaceae.  It is estimated that there are only about 1,000 of these plants in the wild (link).  So, naturally, I tried growing one.

At first the plant did very well.  It quickly plumped up and put on some new growth.  But it started sagging to the side and soon couldn't hold itself up.  Then the leaves at the base started falling off.  I was watering it too much and rot had set in in the stem.  I cut all but the base of the stem off and trimmed away all of the black rot that I could.  I let the cut stem surface dry out in the air for 24 hours before planting them.  Also, I was careful this time to water them infrequently and let the soil completely dry out in between.

In this picture the plant at the lower left is from a piece of the stalk that I replanted after trimming it down to healthy tissue.  To the upper right are some remnants of the original over-watered stalk with rot in the stem (I left it to see what would happen).

Below are some additional plants I have established from cuttings of the original.

They are all putting on some new growth so I am hopeful.