Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

Hibiscus arnottianus is a shrub or small tree generally 8 meters in height, though a few individuals will grow to 10 meters tall. The leaves are mostly oval with a smooth upper surface and a lower surface with many to no hairs. Leaf margins or edges are smooth or have spreading pointed teeth near the leaf tip. The leaves are 4 to 10 centimeters long and often have red veins and stems. The faintly fragrant flowers have white petals 5 to 13 cm long with the tube-like green calyx being 2 to 3 centimeters long. Anthers are arranged along the upper third of the pinkish to dark red staminal column 8 to 19 cm long. Older flowers may be slightly pink to pale pink. In cultivation, Hibiscus arnottianus blooms almost continuously.
(Wagner,W.L.,Herbst,D.R.,Sohmer,S.H. 1999. Manual of Flowering Plants of Hawai'i.; Criley, R. 1998. 1999; Koob, G. 1998; Rauch. 1997)

The gardeners and scientists of National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) have successfully propagated Hibiscus arnottianus.

The flowers of one subspecies, Hibicus arrnottianus sbsp. punaluuensis, were used in lei (garlands).
(McDonald, M.A., Weissich, P.R. 2003. Na lei makamae: the treasured lei.)

Hibiscus arnottianus is an endemic Hawaiian plant with one endangered subspecies (Hibiscus arnottianus ssp. immaculatus), which is the rarest of the 11 Hibiscus taxa native to Hawaii. The species is mostly found in mesic to wet forests, at 300 to 800 meters elevations of the Ko'olau and Wai'anae mountain ranges of O'ahu and Wailau Valley on Moloka'i.
(Wagner,W.L.,Herbst,D.R.,Sohmer,S.H. 1990. Manual of Flowering Plants of Hawai'i.)

We currently have 7 herbarium specimens for Hibiscus arnottianus in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.

• 021401 - collected by David H. Lorence in 1995
• 030055 - collected by Kana Watanabe in 2000
• 047130 - collected by K. R. Wood in 2000
• 070565 - collected by Natalia Tangalin in 2012
• 084544 - collected by Susan M. Deans in 2016
• 084078 - collected by Susan M. Deans in 2016
• 079507 - collected by Barbara Kennedy in 2018