A newly reported tree species on Kauai could disappear as quickly as it was discovered if it — and the unique old-growth forest in which it exclusively exists — cannot withstand the host of natural, introduced and man-made threats it faces.

The endemic Melicope stonei, named after British-­American botanist Benjamin Stone, meets International Union for Conservation of Nature criteria for a “critically endangered” species. The tree is found only in a roughly 1-square-mile area on Kauai, in a region marked by unique high-canopy forests with a well-balanced supply of water.

Samples of the elusive species were first collected as early as 1988 but the tree was not officially named and described until this year with a study conducted by Kenneth Wood, a field botanist with the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kalaheo; and botanists Marc Appelhans and Warren Wagner of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The report was published this month in journal PhytoKeys.

The tree grows up to 16 to 40 feet tall, with a trunk up to 10 inches in diameter. It is marked by fine hairs on the underside of its large leaves and flowers that spring directly from branches below the leaves.

The tree is the 249th endemic plant species found only on Kauai.

The authors note that the tree’s habitat, and thus the tree itself, are endangered by habitat degradation from pigs and deer, rats that eat its seeds, fire (mostly caused by humans), competition with non-native plant species and natural events like hurricanes.

Efforts to protect the tree are limited by overtaxed resources, the authors state.

“Unfortunately, in Hawaii alone there are 424 federally threatened and endangered plant taxa with very few research biologists and limited funding available to adequately monitor and protect them,” they wrote. “We are hoping for a renaissance in the natural sciences whereby society values the perpetuation of species diversity with as much enthusiasm as perhaps sports and entertainment.”