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Sida fallax
Also called ʻIlima, Prostrate ʻilima, Yellow ʻilima, Yellow `ilima
Sida fallax, known as yellow ilima, golden mallow, or ʻIlima is a species of herbaceous flowering plant in the Hibiscus family, Malvaceae, indigenous to the Hawaiian Archipelago and other Pacific Islands. Plants may be erect or prostrate and are found in drier areas in sandy soils, often near the ocean. ʻIlima is the symbol of Laloimehani and is the flower for the islands of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, and Abemama, Kiribati.
It is known as ʻilima or ʻāpiki in Hawaiian and as kio in Marshallese, te kaura in Kiribati, idibin ekaura in Nauruan, and akatā in Tuvalu.
Native Hawaiians used ʻilima flowers to make lei, and it is possibly the only plant cultivated specifically for lei-making in ancient Hawaiʻi. About 1,000 ʻilima blossoms are needed to make one strand of a lei. ʻIlima is now planted as a commercial crop for flowers and garlands in Hawaiʻi and Kiribati; where it was once seen as only for use in lei for royalty, but it now can be worn by anyone.
Common wireweed · Sand Sida · Sida clementii · ‘ilima · Corrugated sida · Sida javensis · Sida mysorensis · Rock Sida · Cuban jute · Sida spenceriana · Prickly fanpetals · Fanpetals
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sida fallax by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
