Cyanea tritomantha A. Gray

Genus: Cyanea

Etymology: Uncertain, Gray describes this plant with a corolla of 3 long, linear lobes arising from near the base. The drawing on the holotype also shows only three corolla lobes. The specimens that Gray had to work with were of poor quality and possibly two of the lobes had gone missing. Thus, possibly, the name comes from tri- (Latin for three) + tomus (Greek for section) + anthos (Greek for flower).

Range: Hawaii, wet forests, 350-1,080 m.

Growth form: Treelet, 1.8-3 m tall.

Habit from Kohala Mountains

This rare and endangered species from the big island has the typical Cyanea height and form, it is a single stem, about human height, with the leaves clustered at the apex.

How to identify: This species along with Cy. truncata have densely bracted peduncles.

Description:

Sources:

• Gray, 1861;
• Mann, 1868;
• Hillebrand, 1888 (var. β is Cy. marksii);
• Rock, 1919 (var. lydgatei is Cy. marksii);
• Wimmer, 1943 (var. lydgatei is Cy. marksii);
• Wimmer, 1953 (as Cy. submuricata, cf. supplement);
• Wimmer, 1968 (as Cy. magnifica);
• Degener, 1956 (as Cy. submuricata);
• Wagner et al., 1990.