page_title: Puʻu Kukui
hierarchical_section_title: Puʻu Kukui
caption_attribution_description: English: The notch in the center is the entrance to Iao Valley, the city at the base of the mountain is Wailuku, Hawaii (and suburbs).
context_page_description: Puʻu Kukui is a mountain peak in Hawaiʻi. It is the highest peak of Mauna Kahalawai. The 5,788-foot summit rises above the Puʻu Kukui Watershed Management Area, an 8,661-acre private nature preserve maintained by the Maui Land & Pineapple Company. The peak was formed by a volcano whose caldera eroded into what is now Īʻao Valley.
  Puʻu Kukui is one of the wettest spots on Earth and the third wettest in the state after Big Bog, Maui and Mount Waiʻaleʻale, receiving an average of 386.5 inches of rain a year. Rainwater unable to drain away flows into a bog. The soil is dense, deep, and acidic.
  Puʻu Kukui is home to many endemic plants, insects, and birds, including the greensword, a distinctive bog variety of ʻōhiʻa lehua and many lobelioid species. Due to the mountain peak's extreme climate and peat soil, many species, such as the ʻōhiʻa, are represented as dwarfs. Access to the area is restricted to researchers and conservationists.
context_section_description: Puʻu Kukui is a mountain peak in Hawaiʻi. It is the highest peak of  Mauna Kahalawai (the West Maui Mountains).  The 5,788-foot (1,764 m) summit rises above the Puʻu Kukui Watershed Management Area,  an 8,661-acre (35.05 km²) private nature preserve maintained by the Maui Land & Pineapple Company.  The peak was formed by a volcano whose caldera eroded into what is now Īʻao Valley.
  Puʻu Kukui is one of the wettest spots on Earth and the third wettest in the state after Big Bog, Maui and Mount Waiʻaleʻale, receiving an average of 386.5 inches (9,820 mm) of rain a year.  Rainwater unable to drain away flows into a bog. The soil is dense, deep, and acidic.
  Puʻu Kukui is home to many endemic plants, insects, and birds, including the greensword (Argyroxiphium grayanum), a distinctive bog variety of ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha var. pseudorugosa) and many lobelioid species.   Due to the mountain peak's extreme climate and peat soil, many species, such as the ʻōhiʻa, are represented as dwarfs.  Access to the area is restricted to researchers and conservationists.
caption: Pu'u Kukui as seen from North Shore Maui
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2005:10:02 11:32:23", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7680", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:10:02 11:32:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:10:02 11:32:23", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "326559/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "70", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2048", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2366", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "768000/223", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "409600/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}