[A. a. var. eschscholtziana (Besser) A. Gray; A. a. f. menziesioides Degener; A. a. var. microcephala Gray; A. a. f. pauciflora Skottsb., nom. nud.; A. a. f. skottsbergii Degener; A. eschscholtziana Besser; A. hillebrandii Skottsb.; A. microcephala (A. Gray) Hillebr.]
(end) Ahinahina, hinahina, hinahina kuahiwi
Faintly to strongly aromatic subshrubs diffusely branching from base; stems numerous, lax, erect to decumbent, rounded, 4.5(—5) dm long, glabrate, roughened by leaf scars. Leaves broadly ovate in outline, (3-)5-7(-8.5) cm long, 1.5-4.5 cm wide, bipinnate and deeply lobed, the segments linear to broadly lanceolate, (1—)1.5— 7 mm wide, apex obtuse to acute, upper surface sparsely pubescent to glabrous and glandular punctate, lower surface white tomentose, petioles (1 —)2—2.5 cm long. Heads in leafless panicles surrounded by to scarcely surpassing the leaves, ca. 4-7 cm long, 3- 4 cm in diameter, pyramidal, the branches widely divergent, each head 2-3(-4) mm high, 1.5—3(—4) mm wide, peduncles usually 15 mm long, pedicels slender, (1 —)2—2.5 cm long, erect to slightly reflexed; involucral bracts 6—12(—16), narrowly to broadly elliptic or obtuse, margins usually scarious or, if absent, the bracts narrow and nearly linear, lower surface densely canescent; florets (6-)8-20(-26) per head, the outer ones pistillate and inner ones perfect, tubular, (1—)1.2-1.7 mm long, outer surface glabrous to densely glandular; pappus absent. Achenes pale to dark brown, obconical, slightly flattened, ribbed, (0.2-)0.3~0.8 (-1.4) mm long, densely viscid, glabrous, or sparsely pubescent. [2n = 18*.] Occurring on exposed cliff faces, 0-1,065 m, on primarily windward sides of all of the main islands.— Plate 16.
Artemisia australis contains a number of distinct morphological forms, some of which may be worthy of# recognition at a formal level. Populations from Ni‘ihau, Moloka‘i, and Lana‘i often have leaves that are divided into considerably broader segments than in typical A. australis. These have been referred to as A. australis f. skottsbergii. Further work is needed to determine the significance of variation in leaf morphology. Artemisia hillebrandii is included within the present concept of A. australis. Skottsberg (1927a) separates this species on the basis of its somewhat larger heads, linear rather than ovate involucral bracts, and leaves that are somewhat more pubescent. However, there are no ecological differences that correlate with the morphological variation, and the range of variation described may be found within single populations.