Ilex anomala

{{short description|Species of plant}}

{{italic title}}

{{speciesbox

|name = Kāwa{{okina}}u

|image = Starr 070405-6752 Ilex anomala.jpg

|image_caption =

|genus = Ilex

|species = anomala

|authority = Hook. & Arn. (1832)

|synonyms =

• Byronia anomala {{small|(Hook. & Arn.) A.Heller (1896)}}
• Byronia helleri {{small|H.Lév. (1911)}}
• Byronia hookeri {{small|Steud. (1840)}}
• Byronia sandwicensis {{small|Endl. (1836)}}
• Byronia taitensis {{small|A.Gray (1854)}}
• Ilex hawaiensis {{small|S.Y.Hu (1967)}}
• Ilex marquesensis {{small|F.Br. (1935)}}
• Ilex sandwicensis {{small|Loes. (1897)}}
• Ilex taitensis {{small|(A.Gray) J.W.Moore (1933)}}
• Polystigma hookeri {{small|Meisn. (1839)}}

|synonyms_ref = [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:83043-1 "Ilex anomala Hook. & Arn."] Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 7 December 2023.

}}

Ilex anomala, commonly known as Hawai'i holly, kāwa{{okina}}u, or {{okina}}aiea in Hawaii, is a species of holly.{{cite web |url=http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/trees/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Ilex_anomala.pdf |title=Kāwaʻu, Hawaiian holly |first=Elbert L. |last=Little Jr. |author2=Roger G. Skolmen |publisher=United States Forest Service |year=1989 |journal= |access-date=2009-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185729/http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/trees/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Ilex_anomala.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=dead }} It is native to the Hawaiian Islands and the Marquesas Islands and Society Islands of French Polynesia.

On Hawaii it inhabits mixed mesic and wet forests at elevations of {{convert|600|-|1400|m|ft|abbr=on}} on all main islands.{{cite web |url=http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/resultsdetailed.asp?search=kawau |title=kawa'u, kaawa'u, 'aiea |publisher=Bernice P. Bishop Museum |work=Hawaii Ethnobotany Online Database |accessdate=2009-11-18 |archive-date=2020-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126081122/http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/resultsdetailed.asp?search=kawau |url-status=dead }} In the Marquesas Islands it is a characteristic canopy tree in low-canopied cloud forests above 1000 meters elevation, along with the trees Cheirodendron bastardianum and Metrosideros collina and climbers of Freycinetia spp.{{WWF ecoregion|name=Marquesas tropical moist forests|id=oc0108}}