Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 2, 1 February 1989 — Our State Flower — The Hibiscus [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Our State Flower — The Hibiscus

Pua Aloalo

by Earl Neller Cultural Specialist

Editor's note: The new hibiscus-couer phone book by the Hawaiian Telephone Co. has generated controuersy ouer whieh hibiscus should be Hawaii's state flower. Ka Wai Ola O OHA presents this look at the history of this colorful flower whieh grows in such abundance here in the Islands. Aloalo is the Hawaiian word for plants in the hibiscus family. Koki'o and maku also means hibiscus. Hawaiians of old made use of the hibiscus in medicines, dying kapa (bark cloth), and decoration. The flowers are large and colorful. They usually open early in the morning and stay fresh for twelve hours, whether left on the plant, placed in water, or tucked behind the ear.

The native Hawaiian species of hibiscus are quite rare in the wild today, and most people never see them unless they visit places like Waimea Falls Park whieh has a large hibiscus garden and many native Hawaiian plants. The koki'o ke'oke'o is the native white hibiscus. lt is unusual in the hibiscus family because of its mild fragrance. 'Akiohala is the native pink hibiscus. Ma'o hauhele is the native yellow hibiscus. Koki'o 'ula is the native red hibiscus. There are many varieties, and some are so distinct that they are classified as separate species. Around 1872, Archibald Cleghorn began creating hybrid species of hibiscus through cross pollination of native varieties with alien species. Fifty years later, the growing and crossing of hibiscus became so popular in Hawai'i that almost every gardener tried his hand at it. Thousands of new flowers were created. In 1923, the following resolution was adopted by the Legislature: "RESOLVED by theLegislatureoftheTerritory of Hawaii that the flower known as the Pua Aloalo (Hibiscus) shall be and is hereby adopted as the flower emblematic of the Territory and shall be known as the Flower Emblem of Hawaii."

Today, there may be as many as 5,000 kinds of hibiscus in Hawai'i. Because a statute had never been adopted, a bill was introduced during the 1988 legislative session declaring the hibiscus to be the Hawai'i state flower. During a public hearing of the House Committee on the Judiciary, the Department of Land and Natural Resources recommended that the native yellow hibiscus be adopted as the State Flower, and such a bill was passed and signed by the Governor, as follows: "The native yellow hibiscus (Hibiscus brackenridgei A. Gray), also known as the Pua Aloalo of

Ma'o-Hauhele, is established and designated as the official flower of the State." A controversy developed this year when the Hawaiian T elephone Co., unaware of the 1988 law, declared that the red hibiscus was the official State Flower in the 1989 telephone directory. This was also erroneously stated in a 1983 book on Hawaiian Heritage Plants by Angela Kay Kepler:

"In 1923 an attractive red, silky-petaled hibiscus was designated as Hawaii's official flower. The emblem was not, as most believe, the eommon red Chinese hibiscus that grows ubiquitously in gardens and along roadsides. It was a native species called koki'o-'ula (literally 'red hibiscus'), onee eommon on Oahu, Molokai, and Maui, but now reduced to extreme rarity." A telephone poll was conducted for four days, January 13-16, in whieh the public was invited to eall in their preference. 20,386 voted for the red hibiscus; 4,330 voted for the yellow; and 5,063 voted that the State Flower should simply be the hibiscus, without any special species designation.

OHA Cultural Specialist Earl Neller holds the controversial hibiscus— cover 1989 phone book.

Koki'o Ke'oke'o, the native white hibiscus.