The Flowering Plants of Hawaii These numbers reflect the
situation at the time of publication of the Manual and should
only be taken as an indication of the overall situation.
Relevant changes, at least in the status and/or number of native
genera, will be noted below. The status of several traditionally
recognized families with island representatives has also changed
owing to recent DNA-based research. These will be commented on
under the traditional family name as used in the Manual. Despite
these changes, the critical message is the fact that the native
flora amounts to slightly less than 50% of the total number of
flowering plants on the islands. In other words, half of the
islands’ plants are alien! One of the interesting facets of the
native Hawaiian flora is that the majority of endemic
species—although many are tropical and exotic in
appearance—belong to families that would easily be recognized by
visitors from temperate North America. The five families that
make the greatest contribution in species t