[L. elliptica St. John; L. e. var. artialata St. John; L. forbesii Sherff; L. f var. sherffii Degener & Clay; L. heterophylla A. Gray var. malvacea Degener & Sherff; L. kahoolawensis Sherff; L. lobata (Gaud.) DC var. makenensis Degener & Sherff; L. I. var. maunaloensis Sherff; L. mauiensis St. John; L. nesophila St. John; L. rockii var. dissecta Sherff; L. r. var. parva St. John; L. r. var. subovata Sherff; L. scabra St. John; L. succulenta (Hook. & Arnott) DC var. trifida Sherff]
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Suffruticose perennial herbs; stems arcuate-spreading to erect, 5-10 dm long. Leaves ovate to deltate, 4-7.3(-10) cm long, 2.5-5(-7.5) cm wide, both surfaces hispidulous, rarely the hairs appressed, nearly always with pustulate bases, deeply 3-5-lobed to subentire, the terminal seg¬ment lanceolate to ovate, petioles 0.9-2.5 cm long and with winged margins or sessile and the bases connate-perfoliate. Heads in simple or compound cymes; outer involu¬cral bracts ovate, (2.5—)3—5.3 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, hispidulous, apex acute; chaffy bracts purple near apex; ray florets 7-12 per head, rays oblong, (5-)7-10(-l 1.5) mm long, 2.3-4.3 mm wide; disk florets 20- 45(—55) per head, corollas 4-merous, 2.8- 3.5(-4) mm long; anthers 1.3-1.7 mm long; pappus of connate scales forming an uneven corona tipped with short deciduous awns. Achenes tuberculate, with wings ca. 0.5 mm long, ray achenes 2.2-3.1 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, disk achenes 2.1-3 mm long, 1-2 mm wide. [2n = 52*.] Scattered to common in coastal sites to dry forest, often in disturbed areas and margins of lava flows, 15-550 m, on Moloka‘i, from scattered localities on Maui, common near the coast on Kaho‘olawe, also a single collection presumably from Hawai‘i.—Plate 31.
Lipochaeta rockii, a plant primarily of Moloka‘i, is closely related to and appears to intergrade with L. heterophylla. It differs in its usually numerous heads, involucral bracts (2.5-)3-3.5(-5) mm long, and leaves usually petiolate and lobed. Lipochaeta nesophila fits well within the morphological range of L. rockii, but the label data of the type (Stokes s.n., BISH) suggests that it was collected on Ni‘ihau in January, 1912. On the basis of the morphological information, it appears likely that the label data is in error. The holotype and only collection described by St. John (1976a) as Lipochaeta scabra fits within the range of variation of L. rockii in all aspects (R. C. Gardner, 1979). This collection, presumably made by David Nelson on Hawai‘i, represents an anomalous distribution record from the leeward coast of Hawai‘i. There is no other evidence that L. rockii occurred on Hawai‘i.