Hillebrandia sandwicensis is a species of a herbaceous perennial flowering plant native to some of the Hawaiian Islands.

This raises the question as to how a monotypic genus got to a remote island chain considerably younger than itself.

It has been proposed that, even though forested ravines are not particularly windy, Hillebrandia island-hopped down the Hawaiian – Emperor seamount chain (then islands) via the wind often enough to colonize each island in turn, a process aided by a Cenozoic climate allowing it to live at lower altitudes than today, regardless of where the genus originated from.

Additionally, H. sandwicensis is the only member of its family natively found in the Hawaiian Islands.

[7] However, a 1999 document from the American Fish and Wildlife Service did list H. sandwicensis as one of 202 "Other Species of Concern".