Its flowers shine like points of pure sunlight in the dry forest, or like golden coins scattered over bleak lava flatlands. ‘Ilima is so common in Hawai‘i, clinging to life with a weedy enthusiasm in arid, wind-whipped nooks and crannies, that one is tempted to take the sight for granted. And yet this indigenous shrub provides one of the great traditional lei flowers. It is celebrated in many songs. It is the official island flower of O‘ahu. In every Island-loving heart it represents the subtle beauty of the Hawaiian wilderness.

Back in "steamer days," when life moved more slowly, visitors to Hawai‘i would often be sent home wearing a classic emblem of royalty, an ‘ilima lei wound with the aromatic foliage of maile. That was an honor indeed, and one you rarely see today. It's not that ‘ilima flowers are hard to come by; it's that they are so darn thin. To make a perfect rope of gold—which is the look of a well-made ‘ilima lei—one must string the flowers kui style (pierced through the middle and slid together face-to-face like a stack of saucers). A lei of proper length requires hundreds of flowers, at least a thousand say some sources, which will last only a day.

Because it is so difficult to procure, and because it is so regally golden, an ‘ilima lei would suit a high chief. Its hue compares to the other important source of gold ornamentation for the old ali‘i, one even more difficult to procure—the golden feathers plucked from forest birds and woven into capes and such. Nowadays you see imitation ‘ilima leis made with far less trouble from gold-colored yarn or crepe paper. Even these "quickie" leis are regarded as tokens of honor.

Though the flowers are flimsy, the plant itself is a master of endurance. You find it thriving on sandy or rocky coastlines, on limestone reefs, and on open rocky plains. It is indigenous not only to Hawai‘i but to islands throughout the Pacific, places as obscure as Midway and Nihoa. Its success derives from its polymorphism—its ability to change its form to fit a wide variety of locations. On an arid headland, it will flatten to the ground. But in a forest setting, it will form a twiggy shrub four or five feet tall.

Right outside my office window there's an ‘ilima bush vying for sunlight between some tall podocarpus shrubs. By leaning on and clambering over its neighbors, this ‘ilima has reached about 12 feet tall. All year ‘round it produces its bright flowers, each one the size of a quarter. The vivid gold is very satisfying to see against the matte, almost milky green of its velvety, heart-shaped leaves.

Sida fallax will vary so wildly in stature, flower size, leaf shape, and degree of fuzziness that botanists have tried and failed to divide it into numerous species. One source calls it a "species complex" that is greatly in need of "biosystematic analysis."

‘Ilima flowers look like small hibiscus blooms—five simple, showy petals open wide to show the stamens all gathered in a tight-fitting sleeve around the central pistil. This look characterizes the mallow family, Malvaceae, which also includes the hollyhock, Rose of Sharon, flowering maple, cotton, and two prominent native trees of Hawai‘i, the hau and the milo. Some members of this family are called "cheese weed" because their fruits look something like wheels of French cheese subdivided in wedges. This arrangement is true for ‘ilima, whose fruits are dry and papery, divided into seven to 12 spokes, each spoke splitting open on the top to release a single brown seed.

Besides lei-making, traditional Hawaiian uses for ‘ilima include the medicinal, the practical, and the ritual. The crushed flowers yield a slippery juice with laxative qualities. Traditionally, this juice was one of the first medicines given to children, and it is often mixed with other healing herbs. ‘Ilima stems provided detail elements in construction of hale (thatched houses), also material for rough-woven baskets. Writing of her upbringing a century ago in Ka‘u (Hawai‘i Island), Mary Kawena Pukui tells us that ‘ilima boughs were "an essential part of every ritual, bringing the life of the wao akua (hinterland of the gods) into the home, and making it delightful for gods and guardian spirits, as for the people there."

These days ‘ilima is finding a new kind of usefulness as a landscaping feature, especially in parking lots, xeriscapes, and any place suited to its cheerful ability to thrive and bloom in dry circumstances. A plant that grows easily from seeds or cuttings and loves wind, heat, and solar radiation, ‘ilima has entered the horticultural field in varieties such as "Kane‘ohe Gold" (semi-double flower, plant can be kept to 12 inches in a container) and "‘Ilima Papa" (groundcover plant whose white-velvet leaves give a silver background to the golden florals). This most regal of all lei flowers turns out to be a most democratic and adaptable citizen of the tropical world.