Hawaiian Hibiscus — Roe 
17 
This red flower, as insignificant as it is in 
comparison with other luxuriant Hawaiian 
members of the genus, was designated in 1923 
as the official flower of the Hawaiian Islands. 
This specimen has been collected by many bot- 
anists at the end of the Kawaiiki Ditch Trail 
overhanging the dam (Kawailoa, Koolau 
Range, elevation 1,080 ft.). From this location, 
many cuttings have been made and brought to 
cultivation. 
As H. Kokio is known to hybridize freely, 
taxonomists hesitate to classify new groups. 
However, there seems to be a native red- 
flowered plant on eastern Kauai still undescribed. 
Sufficient material is not available to permit 
satisfactory classification; however, it appears 
that this group is a new species, closely allied to 
H. Kokio Gray and H. kahilii Forbes. The re- 
maining Kauai native reds fall into either of 
the latter two taxa or that of the newly estab- 
lished species, H. Saint johnianus. 
At Puu Ka Pele in Waimea the Kokee 
rangers recently reported a red-flowered hibis- 
cus. This has been collected by several botanists 
who have labelled it Hibiscus sp. After bring- 
ing it to cultivation and watching it for a year, 
the author has concluded that it is an introduced 
species bearing a large, reddish-purple flower. 
HOLOTYPE: Fragment of the original type 
now in the Bishop Museum Herbarium reads 
"Ex Museo botanico Berolinensi.” (From cul- 
tivated species in Hillebrand’s garden.) 
SPECIMENS EXAMINED: Kauai: In cultivation, 
1913, Dewitt Alexander. Nonau Mountains, Oct. 
16, 1916, C. N. Forbes 599.K. West side of 
Nualolu Pali, Waimea Drainage Basin, July 3, 
1917, C. N. Forbes 963.K. 
Oahu : Kanaikupai, Waianae Range, February 
14, 1913, C. N. Forbes 1814.0. Kalihi Valley, 
October 1928, A. F. Judd 37. In cultivation 
at Queen Liliuokalani’s Residence, Honolulu, 
Spring, 1916, Rock. Kawaiiki Ditch Trail, Ka- 
wailoa, Koolau Range, altitude 1080 feet, No- 
vember 23, 1956, Roe 204 . In cultivation at 
Foster Gardens, Honolulu, July 7, 1957, Roe 
226. In cultivation at the Hibiscus Gardens at 
Waikiki, July 11, 1958, Roe. Ditch Trail (near 
intake), Koolau Range, 1922, Skottsberg 203. 
In cultivation, Honolulu, 1913, Gerrit P. Wilder. 
FIG. 10. Hibiscus Kokio Hbd. 
Hawaiian Islands: H. Mann and W . T. Brig- 
ham, 218. 
7. Hibiscus Kokio var. pukoonis Caum 
Fig. 11 
Hibiscus Kokio var. pukoonis Caum. New 
Hawaiian Plants, Bishop Mus. Occ. Pap. 
9(5): 7.1930. 
description: A shrub 2-3 meters tall. Stip- 
ules 0.5-0. 8 cm. long, setaceous. Petioles 2-4 
cm. long. Leaves 8-12 cm. long, 4-7 cm. wide, 
ovate to elliptico-oblong, acuminate, sinuately 
crenate, scarcely palmately veined; soft-chartace- 
ous. Peduncles 2. 5-4.5 cm. long, solitary in axils 
near end of branches. Bracts 6-8, linear-lance- 
olate, 10-15 mm. long, 1.0- 1.5 mm. wide, not 
adnate to clayx, glabrate. Calyx 2.5 cm. long, 
1.0-1. 3 cm. wide, cleft for 1.0 cm.; lobes acute, 
glabrate, tripli-nerved, the lateral nerves fuse 
0.5-1.0 cm. below cleft, the calyx being 10- 
nerved at the base, nonglanduliferous. Petals 3- 
3.5 cm. wide, 6-nerved, slightly ciliate at mar- 
gin, obovate, "scarlet red.” Staminal column 5.0- 
6.0 cm. long, slender, light red, glabrous, acutely 
5-lobed; free filament tips extend 0.3-0.4 cm. 
