Nicolas Grevet  •  Photography

The Haleakalā silversword (referred to as ʻāhinahina in Hawaiian, literally, "very gray") is only found on the island of Maui at elevations above 6,900 ft (2,100 m) on the dormant Haleakalā volcano and on the western slope of Mauna Kea on the Big Island. It produces a tall stalk of maroon ray flowers which resemble the sunflower in just a few weeks that can reach up to 6.6 ft (2 m) in height and has numerous tiny sticky hairs to prevent crawling insects from damaging the plant.