| Dicotyledon | Literature for Hibiscus furcellatus
Wilson, 1993. |
| Malvaceae -- The Cacao, Linden, Mallow Family | Bibliography |
| Hibiscus furcellatus | |
Common name(s): aloalo, `akiahala, `akiohala, hau hele, hau hele wai |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | In the Hawaiian Islands, indigenous to Kaua`i, O`ahu, Maui, Hawai`i. | |
| Habit |
Shrubs to 2.5 m tall; stems densely stellate-pubescent and with bristly, pustulate hairs, or with simple or 2-forked hairs. |
|
| Leaves |
Stipules filiform, caducous, 4-6 mm long, fine stellate-pubescent and with occasional coarse stellate hairs. Leaves fine stellate-pubescent, usually more dense on the abaxial than on the adaxial surface, some additionally with a few straight, simple or 2-forked hairs to
3 mm, or a few prickles on the ribs (Degener 8959), the nectary 1-2 mm long on abaxial surface of midrib near base; the basal-most leaves not seen; leaves at mid-plant: petioles 2-9 cm long, finely and densely stellate-pubescent,
sometimes sparsely interspersed
with rigid, straight hairs, or pustuliferous prickles (Hitchcock 14159), the blades variable, broadly lanceolate to ovate or shallowly
3-5-lobed (Degener 8959 with deeply
5-7-lobed leaves); 5.5-1 1 cm long x 4.5-10 cm wide, the base cordate to deeply cordate, the margin serrate to coarsely serrate or dentate, the apex obtuse to acute or acuminate;
leaves at upper plant: petioles 4-25
mm long, with pubescence like that of petioles at mid-plant, the blades also variable, from linear-lanceolate (bract-like) to lanceolate, ovate, or shallowly 3-lobed, 10-70 mm long x 3-55 mm wide. |
|
| Flowers |
Flowers axillary, solitary (or with two flowers at some nodes), or borne on flowering branches; peduncles
from 2 mm in small bud, elongating
to 10-13 mm in flower, and 11-35 mm in
fruit, articulating at the base, finely and densely stellate-pubescent, with a few to many rigid, straight, pustuliferous hairs to 2 mm or with coarser stellate pubescence;
involucellar bracteoles 10-1 2, linear,
rounded dorsally, flattened ventrally, upcurved, 10-14 mm long in flower, 13-17
mm long in fruit, stellate-pubescent and with straight hairs, the apex bifurcate, the outer (abaxial) fork longer than the inner fork; calyx to 25 mm in flower, elongating to 35 mm in fruit, the lobes acute to long-acuminate at the apex, finely stellate-pubescent, interspersed with long (to 2 mm)straight, shiny, simple or 2-forked pustular hairs, borne mainly on the ribs, the nectary
on the midrib conspicuous, 1 mm long; corolla pink to lavender, each petal with a dark purple basal spot; petals obovate, 5-9 cm long, finely stellate-pubescent dorsally, almost
glabrous ventrally. |
|
| Fruit |
Capsules 25-32 mm long x 15-23 mm in diam., straw-colored, appressed-pubescent, the beak 1 mm long, glabrous.
|
|
| Seeds |
Seeds 3 mm long x 2 mm wide, reniform, brown, shiny, glabrous, the funiculus cream-colored, conspicuous, with a dark brownish-purple band 0.3 mm wide near the point of attachment to the placenta.
|
|
| Chromosomes |
n = 36 |
|
