Brighamia A. Gray ex H. Mann

This genus consists of two very similar, awkward looking species that have been described by Hillebrand a cabbaged-head stuck on a naked pole. This first specimen was collected by Jules Remy on "Kauai or Niihau" during his visit to Hawaii from 1851 to 1855 and stored in the Paris Herbarium. It was later collected by Brigham (1864-65) from the island of Moloka'i. Asa Gray wrote a single description based on both of these collections which was included in Mann's 1868 Enumeration of Hawaiian Plants. In 1969, St. John segregated the plants from the two islands into two separate species: B. insignis from Ni'ihau has yellow corollas and B. rockii from Moloka'i has white corollas. The type of B. insignis is Remy's specimen.

Sources:

• Mann, 1868;
• Mann, 1868a;
• Hillebrand, 1888;
• Rock, 1919;
• Degener, 1937;
• Wimmer, 1953;
• Wagner et al., 1999.