Silversword

The silversword is a striking flowering plant found only on the high volcanic slopes of Haleakala and Mauna Kea in Hawaii, where it grows as a rosette of narrow, silver-haired leaves adapted to intense sunlight and cold, dry conditions. A single plant may live for decades before flowering just once, sending up a tall stalk covered in hundreds of small reddish-purple flowers, after which the plant dies. Its extremely limited range and slow life cycle have made habitat protection central to its survival.