Trematolobelia grandifolia (Rock) O. Deg.

Genus: Trematolobelia

Range: Hawai'i; Kohala; cliffs and wet forest, 625-1,500 m. Note USGS map shows the old circumscription that included T. wimmeri.

Growth form: Treelet, 1-4 m tall.

This species ...

How to identify: T. grandifolia and T. wimmeri overlap in the Kohala mountains. T. grandifolia has larger, white corollas 6.5-7.5 cm long on glabrous racemes subtended by broad leaves, only 4 to 6 times longer than wide. T. wimmeri on the other hand has smaller (5.4-6.7 cm long) yellow-green, pink-suffused corolla on pubescent racemes subtended by narrow leaves 7-19 times longer than wide. My examination of various specimens in the Bishop Museum show that the leaf length/width ratio is imperfect and any specimen with a ratio between 5 and 8 cannot reliably be identified by this trait alone.

Sources:

• Rock, 1913 (as Trematolobelia macrostachys var. grandifolia);
• Rock, 1919 (as Trematolobelia macrostachys var. grandifolia);
• Degener, 1934 (in key only, no description);
• Wimmer, 1953;
• Wagner et al., 1990;
• Lammers, 2009.