This and many other rare Kauaian plants were added to the endangered species list of the United States in 2010.

It occurs in forests in moist mountain gulches which are dominated by hala (Pandanus tectorius), a common tree of the Pacific Islands.

[4] Some of the female parts in the bisexual flowers are abortive or nonfunctional, indicating that the species is in the middle of an evolution toward a fully dioecious system; eventually some flowers might start developing without the female parts.

[4] If the species becomes dioecious, some individuals will produce all male flowers and some will bear all female.

[1] Its habitat has been destroyed and degraded by feral goats and pigs, washed out by floods, and invaded by a number of non-native plant species.