Mesic areas to open areas of low elevation or montane wet forest, fog-swept alpine shrublands and bogs. Found rarely in windward coastal sites (Wagner, et al. 1990: 590-591).
| Compact to slender,
erect and spreading shrubs, sometimes treelike, occasionally
dwarfed, trailing form in bogs (Wagner, et al. 1990: 590).
The plant on the right is along the trail at the top of the Mauna Loa Strip Road. It is a large individual, about 2 m tall.
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| The leaves are highly variable in shape and often closely spaced. They range in size from 4 to 10 mm long and 1.5 to 5 mm wide. The leaves often have a sharp tip (Wagner, et al. 1990: 590). |  |
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| The flowers are very small with a corolla that is white to pale pink and 3.5 to 4 mm long. |  |
| Even when flowers are abundant, they are so small that they are easily overlooked. |  |
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| Fruits ranges from dark red to pink or sometimes white, dry and mealy (Wagner, et al. 1990: 590). |  |
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| Some of the Styphelia
shrubs at the Keamoku Flow (along the Mauna Loa Strip Road) were
killed in the several-year long drought (that ended in
2000).
A few individuals seem to have barely survived, such as the one shown below-right. |
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