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Maui hau kuahiwi
Hibiscadelphus wilderianus
Hibiscadelphus wilderianus, also known as the Maui hau kuahiwi, is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae that was endemic to the island of Maui in Hawaii.
In 2019, American biotechnology company Ginkgo Bioworks recreated the scent of Hibiscadelphus wilderianus's flower for a commercial fragrance line using DNA sequenced from the sole existing herbarium specimen.
From the article Hibiscadelphus wilderianus on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Hibiscadelphus wilderianus was a small tree, growing to about 5 meters (16 feet) in height. The leaves were pubescent and rounded, with three lobes and five distinct palmately-arranged veins. It bore singular flowers with yellow petals on 4 centimeter (1.5 inch) long peduncles, and produced oval-shaped, roughly-textured woody capsule fruits.
Range & habitat
Hibiscadelphus wilderianus's type specimen was found at 800 meters (2,265 feet) elevation in the dry forest lava fields of Auwahi on the rocky, dry southern slopes of Mount Haleakalā on Maui. Being on the leeward side of Mount Haleakalā, this region is relatively arid, receiving only 20 to 60 inches of rainfall annually.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Hibiscadelphus wilderianus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 163754.