Hawaii state symbols

How to read it

All four are named in chapter 5 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. The kukui, the motto and the official popular name, “The Aloha State”, come from joint resolutions passed in 1959. The nene and the yellow hibiscus were added in 1988. The law names the flower by its species, Hibiscus brackenridgei, and gives its Hawaiian names, pua aloalo and maʻo hau hele, so a red or garden hibiscus is not the state flower. The National Tropical Botanical Garden says the Territory of Hawaii named the hibiscus its floral emblem in 1923 without naming a species, and many people came to take the non-native Chinese red hibiscus for the official flower; the 1988 law named a species to settle it. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes the nene as found only on the Hawaiian Islands, and says it had fallen to 30 birds by 1957.

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Hawaii’s symbols and when each was adopted

A flower for each island

The same section of the law that names the yellow hibiscus gives each island its own flower or lei material. The ʻōhiʻa lehua is the flower of the island of Hawaiʻi, the lokelani (damask rose) of Maui and the pua ʻilima of Oʻahu. Kauaʻi’s lei material is mokihana, Molokaʻi’s is the pua kukui, Lānaʻi’s is kaunaʻoa, Niʻihau’s is the pūpū and Kahoʻolawe’s is hinahina. The kukui is in the list twice: as the state tree, and as Molokaʻi’s lei material.

1959 or 1960 for the kukui

The statute’s history note cites a joint resolution of 1959 for the state tree. A bill introduced in the state House in 2022, to name the ʻōhiʻa lehua the state endemic tree, opens by saying the kukui was designated the official tree in 1960.