Synonym(s): Lycopodium haleakalae Brack.; Urostachys haleakalae (Brack.) Herter ex Nessel

Indigenous

Named for Haleakala on Maui, the only location in Hawai 'i where this species has been found.

Plants terrestrial. Stems erect or short-decumbent, young stems 8-13 x 0.4-0.7 cm, sturdy, leathery, older stems curved, annual constrictions absent. Leaves appressed, imbricate, older leaves and those closer to bases of plants spreading to ascending, ovate-lanceolate, margins entire, tips acute, 3-5 x 1.5-2 mm, green to yellow green, shiny. Gemmae reniform, 3-4 x 3.5 mm, present throughout mature portion of shoot.

Collected only once in Hawai 'i, in 1840 on Haleakala, East Maui, about 2,135 m, and probably extinct in Hawai 'i. Also native to estern Canada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska (mcluding the Aleutian Islands), and Siberia, where it occurs in exposed, moist, mossy meadows,  1,300-2,000 m, in alpine and sub-alpine zones. Hybrids of H. haleakalae with H. erubescens and H. subintegra are found in Hawai'i.

Huperzia haleakalae, if not extinct in Hawai'i, can be recognized by its appressed, usually imbricate, shiny, yellow green, smooth-margined leaves.