A Taxonomic Study of the Indigenous Hawaiian Species of the Genus Hibiscus (Malvaceae)

THE GENUS Hibiscus is a member of the Malva-ceae, a family of 80 or more genera distributed throughout the world except in frigid regions. Many abound in the tropics and subtropics, where they are important as ornamental and commercial plants. Since Hibiscus hybridization was first suc-cessfully accomplished in Hawaii in 1872 by Governor Archibald Cleghorn of Oahu, a grow-ing interest in the genus has prevailed not only in Hawaii, where the legislature has designated one of the species as the official flower, but also throughout global tropical and subtropical re-gions. Horticulturists striving to secure desir-able varieties have introduced to Hawaii many new species, subspecies, and forms (N aka-sone, 1953). The popularity of the genus has.stirnulated numerous amateur hybridizers to produce thousands of complex hybrids whose parentage is now impossible to trace. The at-tractiveness of these exquisite cultivars has en-couraged and nourished the organization of several societies to foster such hybridization. Little attention, however, has been given to the indigenous members of the genus, several of which have been useful in the production of these hybrids. Heretofore, no single compre-hensive work has been done on the native mem-bers of the genus. Individual descriptions have appeared in print as far back in 1819. Hille