Erect, often much branched woody shrub to 1.8 dm tall, leaves in whorls of 3 or opposite on vegetative stems, becoming alternate above in flowering stems. Diagnostic features of the species include thick, uninerved, often whorled leaves less than 3 cm long and 7 mm wide, yellow flowers, and pappus of ascending-setose aristae. Most flowering occurs from June to November.
This species is found only on the island of Hawai'i, in scrub vegetation of relatively, young, well-drained substrates of Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai at elevations ranging from 600 - 2,900 m (subsp. ciliolata) and Mauna Kea at elevations ranging from 1,800 -3,200 m (subsp. glutinosa G. Carr). The sites occupied by the species receive about 40-300 cm of annual precipitation.
Last Modification: April 21, 2006
Each "thumbnail" image below is linked to a larger photograph.
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Subsp. ciliolata in flower. (photo 1977, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i) |
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Subsp. ciliolata. (the stem was wand-like and unbranched below this point). |
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View of flowering heads, subsp. ciliolata. (photo 1977, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i). The capitulescences tend to be secund. |
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As in several other species of Dubautia, including all of those with 13 pairs of chromosomes, and some with 14 pairs, the receptacular chaff is uniseriate and strongly coalesced, forming a cup-like false involucre. (subsp. ciliolata) |
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Flowering individual of subsp. glutinosa at about 3,140 m elevation. In this subspecies there are commonly only 3 heads in each cluster. (photo 1978, Mauna Kea, Hawai'i) |