Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands (2024)

FAQs

What does 🌺 mean in Hawaii? ›

May be more generally used to convey such ideas as love, happiness, and beauty. Also used as a pink accent color and in association with Hawaii and other Polynesian places and cultures. Google and Samsung's hibiscus flowers were previously orange.

In the Hawaiian culture, if you are to wear a flower behind your left ear, you are married and/or unavailable. Wearing a flower on the right side signifies the opposite, that the person in question is single and possibly looking for love. Be sure to wear accordingly!

Today it is estimated that there are approximately 1,400 vascular plant taxa (including species, subspecies, and varieties) native to the State of Hawai'i, and nearly 90 percent of these are found nowhere else in the world.

Frangipani or Plumeria (Plumeria spp.)

This flower is a classic favorite for Hawaiian Leis. It has five petals and comes in a wide variety of colors, like white, red, yellow, orange, and pink. These flowers are most fragrant at night to attract its pollinator, a nocturnal hawk moth.

Hibiscus

Known for their large, showy blooms, there are several species of Hibiscus that are native to Hawaii. The yellow native Hibiscus, (Hibiscus brackenridgei) or 'ma'o hau hele' in the Hawaiian language, is the Hawaii State flower.

noun. , plural wa·hi·ne. (in Hawaii and Polynesia) a girl or young woman. Slang.

"Call me" gesture. With the thumb held near the ear and the little finger pointed at the mouth, the gesture is commonly understood to mean "call me", as it resembles the handset of a traditional landline telephone. The Unicode 9.0 emoji 🤙 "Call me hand" can be interpreted as the shaka sign.

Shoots is slang for okay or an acknowledgment. “We go to da beach, brah? Shoots!”

The most popular flowers wore behind the ear are Plumeria flowers. You can see them on hula dancers as they're part of their costumes. Plumeria flowers signify grace, beauty, a new beginning, creativity, or charm.

The hibiscus is Hawai'i's state flower. This vividly colored flower is striking and beautiful, and signifies delicate beauty and joyfulness. The Hawaiian hibiscus shrub blooms almost every day, but the blossoms only last for a day. In the past, they were considered endangered.

What plant is only found in Hawaii? ›

Clermontia is a genus of plants that evolved in Hawai'i and is found nowhere else in the world. They grow as small shrub-like trees on the six largest islands from about 600 to 6,000 feet in elevation, in cloud forests, wet and mesic forests, bogs and shrublands.

The Hawaii State Legislature established the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve to restore and to oversee the island and its surrounding waters. Today Kahoʻolawe can be used only for native Hawaiian cultural, spiritual, and subsistence purposes. It has no permanent residents.

Lehua and Kaʻula are the third and fourth largest islands, although they are very small and uninhabited.

The hibiscus is known for being Hawai'i's state flower. If you've ever visited, there's no doubt that you've seen hibiscus while roaming around.

Common flowers of Hawaiian leis include orchids, plumerias, pikake (jasmine), tuberose, carnations, and the vibrant yellow ilima. For more fragrant options, mokihana berries and maile leaves are sometimes incorporated.

Hawaiians adopted the hibiscus – in all colors — as their official Territorial flower in the early 1920s however it wasn't until 1988 that the yellow hibiscus, specifically the Hibiscus brackenridgei was selected as Hawaii's state flower.

Due to the meaning of the flower and also prettiness and variety of color choice, plumeria has deep-rooted popularity on the island. And the flower is captured in lots of gifts and souvenirs to bring the wonderful memories of the vacation or sharing Aloha with your Ohana!!