Hibiscus arnottianus A.Gray
Hawaiian White Hibiscus, White Molokai Hibiscus, White Rosemallow, koki'o ke'oke'o
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Hibiscus arnottianus is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family Malvaceae. It is a shrub or small tree native to the islands of Oahu and Molokai in the Hawaiian Islands, where it grows in tropical rainforest.
Text from Wikipedia, “Hibiscus arnottianus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Hibiscus
Hibiscus is a genus of plants in the family Malvaceae native to the tropics and subtropics. The genus is quite large, comprising 319 species. Hibiscus are renowned for their large, showy flowers and those species are commonly known simply as "hibiscus", or less widely known as rose mallow. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Hibiscus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Hibiscus arnottianus f. parviflorus Skottsb.; Hibiscus waimeae var. hookeri Hochr.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, October to April at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.2 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (854 mm of 1141 mm) falls in October to April. The temperature curve is flat, 3.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1141 mm a year, wettest December at 162 mm, driest June at 47 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1141 mm a year at the habitat, 854 mm of it October to April. Wettest month December at 162 mm, driest June at 47 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 814 mm to 1659 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 46 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 18.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 18.5 °C, the absolute minimum 16.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.9 °C in February (across the envelope cells 18.3 °C to 21.3 °C), warmest day 26.2 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 18.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 23 / 22–24 | 23 / 22–23 | 23 / 22–24 | 23 / 22–24 | 24 / 23–25 | 25 / 24–26 | 26 / 25–27 | 26 / 25–27 | 26 / 25–27 | 26 / 25–27 | 25 / 24–26 | 24 / 23–24 |
| Night °C | 20 / 19–22 | 20 / 18–21 | 20 / 18–22 | 21 / 19–22 | 21 / 19–23 | 22 / 20–24 | 23 / 21–24 | 23 / 21–24 | 23 / 21–25 | 23 / 21–24 | 22 / 21–24 | 21 / 19–23 |
| Rain mm | 140 / 109–175 | 101 / 80–142 | 137 / 100–191 | 82 / 50–134 | 61 / 41–94 | 47 / 26–83 | 60 / 33–106 | 62 / 36–102 | 57 / 35–94 | 99 / 71–140 | 133 / 104–182 | 162 / 129–208 |
| DLI | 27 / 26–29 | 33 / 31–34 | 38 / 37–39 | 43 / 42–43 | 46 / 45–46 | 46 / 45–47 | 46 / 45–46 | 44 / 44–45 | 41 / 40–42 | 35 / 34–37 | 29 / 27–30 | 26 / 25–27 |
| RH % | 63 / 59–68 | 62 / 58–67 | 62 / 59–68 | 63 / 59–68 | 63 / 59–68 | 64 / 59–68 | 64 / 60–69 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 59–68 | 64 / 60–68 | 63 / 59–68 |
Each figure is the median across the 31 grid cells holding the 80 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1371:443 (21.425, -157.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 31 distinct grid cells holding the 80 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1371:443 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.50_-158.125, lapse-corrected +103 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 181 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Brynn Fricke, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Neal Kelso, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Kevin Faccenda, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jonathan Curley, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Jason Hernandez, some rights reserved (CC BY).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Hibiscus arnottianus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Psilotum nudum Skeleton Fork Fern
Crinum asiaticum Asiatic poisonbulb
Pandanus tectorius Pandanaceae
Talipariti tiliaceum Sea hibiscus
Microsorum scolopendria Creeping Dune Fern
Sophora tomentosa Bead treeOther Hibiscus 10 in the reference
Hibiscus acetosella Malvaceae
Hibiscus coccineus scarlet rose-mallow
Hibiscus huegelii Malvaceae
Hibiscus laevis halberd-leaf rose-mallow
Hibiscus moscheutos Common Rose-mallow
Hibiscus mutabilis Changeable Rose-mallow
Hibiscus schizopetalus Fringed Rosemallow
Hibiscus syriacus Althea
Hibiscus trionum Bladder Ketmia History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 19 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








