Hinahina


Scientific Name: Heliotropium anomalum var. argenteum

Natural Setting / Location: indigenous to Hawaiian Islands and wide-spread throughout Pacific islands to China; found in coastal areas, arid lava fields, and dry to mesic forests


Hinahina kū kahakai, or just hinahina, occurs in sandy coastal sites on Ni‘ihau, Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, and Moloka‘i but is rare on Maui and Hawai‘i Island. It is a prostrate ground cover with one of the nicest-smelling flower clusters of all the native Hawaiian plants. Each flower cluster is comprised of up to 15 small white flowers that protrude up above a tight, silvery rosette of leaves. Hinahina kū kahakai was adopted in 1923 as the official flower and lei material for Kahoʻolawe. Due to its rarity, the flowers and leaf rosettes are highly prized and valued for lei making.


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