Hillebr.
[Ptilotus sandwicense A. Gray; Nototrichium ful- vum Schinz; TV. sandwicense var. decipiens Sherff; TV. s. var. dubium Sherff; TV. 5. var. forbesii Sherff; TV. s. var. helleri Sherff; TV. s. var. kauaiense (A. Gray) Hillebr.; TV. s. var. kolekolense Sherff; TV. 5. var. lanaiense Sherff; TV. s. var. lanceolatum Sherff; TV. 5. var. latifolium Sherff; TV. 5. var. leptopodum Degener & Sherff; TV. s. var. longespicatum Hillebr.; TV. 5. var. macrophyllum Sherff; TV. 5. var. mauiense Degener & Sherff; TV. 5. var. niihauense St. John; TV. 5. var. olokeleanum Sherff; TV. 5. var. pulchelloides Degener & Sherff; TV. s. var. pul- chellum Sherff; TV. s. var. subcordatum Degener & Sherff; TV. 5. var. syringifolium Sherff; TV. viride Hillebr.; TV. v. var. kalaupapae St. John; TV. v. var. oblongi- folium Sherff; TV. v. var. subtruncatum Sherff; Psilotri- chum sandwicense (A. Gray) Seem.; P. s. var. kauaiense (A. Gray) Drake; P. s. var. longespicatum (Hillebr.) Drake; P. viride (Hillebr.) Drake; Ptilotus sandwicensis A. Gray var. kavaiensis A. Gray]
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Shrubs or small trees, branched from base or rarely a single trunk with a branched crown; stems (0.8-)l-4(-7) m long, 2-10 cm in diameter, silky canescent with straight, appressed hairs. Leaves usually elliptic, often broadly so, to ovate, broadly ovate, or lanceolate, rarely obovate, (1.5—)3—10(—13) cm long, (l-)2-4 (-7.6) cm wide, usually densely pubescent with closely appressed or sometimes spreading hairs, especially on lower surface, upper surface usually less densely pubescent, sometimes both surfaces only sparsely pubescent or rarely glabrate, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse, rarely retuse, base cuneate to truncate, petioles (3-)6-20 mm long. Flowers lanceoloid to narrowly ovoid, in stout spikes 0.5—3(—5) cm long, 5- 10 mm in diameter, peduncles (0.5-)2-5 (-7.5) cm long; sepals lanceolate to ovate, 3(-4) mm long, pubescent with long spreading hairs and with a large tuft of hairs at base, or rarely glabrous, subtended by an ovate, scarious bract ca. 1.5-2.5 mm long, ± with a spine ca. 2 mm long, usually densely pubescent, usually persistent on the rachis, bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, scari-ous, ca. 1.5-2 mm long, deciduous with the calyx and fruit. Fruit ca. 2 mm long, enclosed by the calyx. Scattered to sometimes common in open dry forest, on exposed ridges, and lava fields, 0-750 m, on all of the main islands.—Plate 6.
Sherff described over 20 varieties of Nototrichium sandwicense based upon pubescence density, leaf size, and the shape and length of the spikes. These characters are often quite variable even on a single plant. Based on current information, it does not seem possible to subdivide the species. Moreover, N. viride, which has been separated from N. sandwicense based on being less densely pubescent and having shorter stamens and styles, seems doubtfully distinct. The less densely pubescent leaves of plants assigned to N. viride appear to only represent extreme endpoints of a rather continuously variable character. When we examined a number of specimens, we also found the stamen and style length feature to be quite variable, and thus it cannot be the basis for separation of 2 species.
The illustration of Nototrichium viride by Degener, Degener, and Stone (1960) is clearly N. humile, and the material it was based upon is probably not from Kaua‘i. The text indicates that the specimen illustrated is Stone 830, which we could not locate; however, a specimen of N. humile that closely matches the illustration is Stone 900 (BISH) from the Wai‘anae Mountains, 0‘ahu. The Stone 900 collection is labeled N. viride, in further support that it was the basis of the illustration. Furthermore, Degener et al. (1960) state that Stone 830 was collected along the Napali Coast, Kaua‘i, in June 1955, but the only material of Nototrichium Stone collected at that time is a specimen of N. sandwicense (St. John & Stone 25544, BISH).