PART THREE : IN WHICH WE TAKE A TRIP TO HAWAII.
As promised, we now take a trip to Hawaii in search of reported sightings of the double abutilon. But en route we must first make a stop over in sunny California, where we find this:
ABUTILON GRANDIFOLIUM (DOUBLE) ON KARTUZ GREENHOUSES WEBSITE
Kartuz Greenhouses, exotic plant specialists based in Vista, north of San Diego, seem to be alone in offering this double-flowering version of Abutilon Grandiflorum, both in the US and elsewhere, though we do know that a specimen made it to a private collector and breeder in Russia. Kartuz’s suggestion that this is the Hawaiian Ma’o seems incorrect, however, as that name is usually given to Gossypium Tomentosum, or Hawaiian Cotton, which, like Abutilon Grandifolium, has hairy leaves and yellow flowers.
The mention on the Kartuz website of the lei, the garland, usually of flowers, symbolic of welcome and so much more in Hawaiian culture, means that we have now arrived in Hawaii. And the lei that we might hope to receive on arrival could well contain at least some flowers of interest to the abutilon lover. The most likely one is the yellow ‘ilima or Sida Fallax, the genus Sida having historically a lot of overlap with Abutilon. Less likely is the red ‘ilima or Abutilon Menziesii, as seen below.
ABUTILON MENZIESII, THE RED ‘ILIMA OR KO’OLOA’ULA
Abutilon Menziesii, known locally as Ko’oloa’ula, is sadly now an endangercd species in Hawaii and consequently no longered used for lei making. But its replacement is of real interest to us, because, as the National Tropical Garden of Hawaii tells us, ‘Today the double-flowered form of Abutilon pictum (called the Lantern 'ilima or Royal 'ilima) is used’. And here it is in all its glory:
ROYAL OR LANTERN ‘ILIMA
Nice, isn’t it? Looks a bit familiar? Well, that flower certainly reminds us of Thompsoni Plena, as illustrated in the Revue de l’Horticulture Belge back in 1885 (see Part 2). The foliage may not be variegated, but the flowers of both forms bear a remarkable resemblance to one another. So what is the background to this Hawaian form? Truth be told, we don’t know, other than the possibility that it is a new form, as suggested by Aloha Tropicals:
ROYAL OR LANTERN ‘ILIMA ON ALOHA TROPICALS WEBSITE
We have contacted them to confirm this but, at the time of writing, have yet to receive a reply.
This beautiful form also appears on the famous US gardening website Dave’s Garden, where the information and images appear to be derived from a Hawaian source. There it is listed as ‘Pleniflorum’ which, according to Kew, is a heterotypic synonym of Abutilon Striatum (or, as they would now prefer we say, Callianthe Striata). It’s also given that species name in the only other source outside Hawaii that we have found for this plant, which is, rather unexpectedly, the Russian Festima marketplace site.
And with that rather loose end, our trip to Hawaii comes to an end, as does our exploratory ramble on the trail of the double abutilon. We may not have come up with all the answers we were looking for, but at the end of it all we can at least safely say that Victorian Lady is neither the first nor the only double abutilon. And we did have some fun along the way, didn’t we?
RTC January 2025
We are indebted to Alina Chitova who first drew our attention to the Royal ‘ilima.