atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

long as petals, slender, flaccid, red, curved at the tip. Planted ornamental. 3(58770),
5(125), 6.
Hibiscus tiliaceus L. "beach hibiscus", hibiscus tree", " hau" (Hawaii)
ekwane (N); te kiaiai, te rao (K); fou, fau (T)
syns. Pariti tiliaceus (L.) A. St. Hil. ; P. tiliaceum Britt. ; Paritium tiliaceum (L.)
A. St. Hil.
Indigenous. Pantropical. Very abundant. A small, dense, broad-crowned, often
scrambling tree, 3 to 10 (rarely 15 to 18) m high, intricately branched when mature,
with many spreading low branches from a short trunk; youngest branches gray-pubescent,
older ones glabrate with grayish rather smooth very fibrous and mucilaginous bark and
bast fiber; leaves, up to 15 or 20 cm long and nearly as wide, round-ovate, abruptly
acuminate, base deeply cordate, velvety pubescent when young, glabrate and dark green
above, grayish-white stellate-tomentose beneath and slightly glaucous, palmately 7- to 9-
nerved with linear basal glands dorsally; petioles, up to 12 or 15 cm long; stipules, 2 to
4 cm long, broadly attached, ultimately leaving annular scars; inflorescences, terminal or
axillary, solitary or in few-flowered open cymes or panicles; epicalyx conspicuous,
shorter than calyx, with 8 to 12 deltoid, acute segments (bracts); pedicels 1 to 3 cm long;
calyx 5-lobed; corolla, about 10 cm across, cupular-campanulate, yellow with a maroon-
purple eye, aging (after falling) to salmon red; staminal tube shorter than corolla, yellow;
style rich purple distally; fruit, 1 to 2.5 cm long and 2 cm wide, ovoid globose, capsular,
5-celled, pubescent, grayish-brown, splitting at top when mature; seeds, generally 15,
glabrous, brownish black. In thickets and forest on escarpment surrounding plateau and
on inner and outer edges of coastal strip. Timber used for house construction and
considered good for canoe outriggers, poles for noddy bird nets, and the best wood for
the construction of frigate bird nesting platforms (eteo, etea); very soft pieces of wood
rubbed together in the past to make fire by friction in the procedure known as ikumo;
inner bark (bast fiber) used to make white fiber, which after stripping off outer bark and
soaking in mud and sea water, is used to make skirts (ridi), special hula skirts (ingung),
and baskets (ebwer, eber); fibre used for straining coconut cream and for lashing house
rafters; leaves used for parceling pig and other foods for cooking in the earth oven
(eyom, eom); leaves cooked with water as a cure for diarrhea. 1(22.R), 2, 3(58747),
4(169N), 5(28), 6, 7.
Hibiscus ornamental hybrids "hybrid hibiscus"
Recent introduction. Rare. Origin? Variable shrubs, up to 2 m or higher; leaves
-~mcmtkte--wefs~ ~ ~ @ t ~ e h r r l r t o ~ t n r p v e ~ f am 1 - ~ 4
5-lobed, showy, more or less campanulate; staminal column more or less covered with
stamens surrounding all but the tip of a longer 5-lobed style; fruit a 5-valved capsule
containing 15 or more seeds. Planted ornamentals. 3, 5, 6, 7.