''Metrosideros boninensis'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

. It is endemic to the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

and is found exclusively on Chichijima Island, excepting for two remaining trees located on neighboring Anijima Island. ''M. boninensis'' is classified as 'endangered' in the Japanese Red Data Book and, although there were 326 plants recorded in 2004, genetic diversity of ''M. boninensis'' is extremely low. It is the northernmost species of the ''

Metrosideros ''Metrosideros'' is a genus of approximately 60 trees, shrubs, and vines in the family Myrtaceae, mostly found in the Pacific region. Most of the tree forms are small, but some are exceptionally large, the New Zealand species in particular. The ...

'' genus.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by botanist

Bunzō Hayata was a Japanese botanist noted for his Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic work in Japan and Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese Taiwan. Early life Hayata was born to a devout Buddhist family in Kamo, Niigata on December 2, 1874. When he was 16, Haya ...

in 1918, as ''Eugenia boninensis''. This was corrected to ''M. boninensis'' in 1938 by Takasi Tuyama.

Cultivars

There are no known cultivars of ''M. boninensis'' available, and the plant is not widely available in plant nurseries.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15371743 boninensis