Family: Fabaceae

Mamane is a small native tree with a rounded crown and bright-yellow flowers. 

A native member of the pea family, mamane is a pono nitrogen fixer. Pea-like flowers and compound leaves are common traits of the pea family. Naturally growing in the mid to high-elevation forests, it is drought, fire, and wind tolerant. Sadly, it is not ungulate tolerant. Mamane forests have been decimated due to roaming muflon and goats. The manane-naio forest is protected today thanks to a groundbreaking lawsuit from the brought by the Sierra Club. The Palila, an endangered native honeycreeper, sued for habitat protection. Mamane seeds are the Palilias main food source, there can’t be one without the other. Hunting programs, fencing, and habitat restoration have greatly helped the Palila to recover.

The wood is used for fuel and woodworking and the seeds and flowers are occasionally used for lei making.

Plant Uses:

• Cultural significance
• Hedge
• Lei flower
• Nitrogen fixer
• Ornamental
• Woodworking