Wagner, Warren L., Derral R. Herbst and S. H. Sohmer. 1999. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum Special Publication, 2 Vol. Set). Honolulu, HI

Flora of Hawaii:  

Distribution    
In the Hawaiian Islands, endemic to Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Maui, Hawai`i.

Habit
Rhizomatous shrubs, aerial shoots stiffly erect, 10-130(-200) cm tall; twigs of the current season often pubescent, occasionally glaucous, or both glaucous and pubescent.

Leaves
Leaves persistent, coriaceous, ovate to obovate or rarely elliptic, 1-3 cm long and wide, pubescent or glaucous, or both, margins sharply serrate to entire, flat or strongly revolute. 

Flowers
Pedicels 1-3 cm long; calyx glabrous, glaucous, or pubescent when young, the lobes deltate, shorter or sometimes as long as the tube at anthesis; corolla red, yellow, yellow with red stripes, or greenish yellow, urceolate to cylindrical, 8-12 mm long, glabrous, puberulent, or pubescent. 

Fruit
Berries red, reddish purple, bluish purple, dull black, or yellow, orangish yellow, yellowish green, or pink, 8-14 mm in diameter. 

Seeds
Seeds small and numerous (70-120).

 

Chromosomes
2n = 24*