The working title of this book during its preparation was that question so often on the lips of tourists in Hawaii,

“What flower is that?”

Had there still been tourists in Honolulu, it is likely that that name would have been used on the cover, for the book is designed to help answer it. Now that the islands are filled with visitors intent on more serious business than pleasure, it has seemed best to call it simply “Hawaiian Flowers.” It is published at this time in the hope that some of these visitors may find in it an hour’s escape from the strain and pressure of war. For, in spite of war, the flowers still bloom in Honolulu, often right over the bomb shelters that fill gardens and parks.

In using the book to help identify the island flowers, it is hoped that the color plates and descriptions together, will make it fairly easy for the layman. Persons interested in more serious study will know how to go to more technical works for information. Care has been taken to have each name accurate to aid those going to the accepted authorities.

In making the color plates the attempt has been made to have them both artistic and scientific, a difficult undertaking under any circumstances. In striving to present pictures of individual flowers so they may be identified, it has been necessary, at times, to sacrifice the gorgeous effects presented in nature by masses of these flowers; such, for instance, as is seen on the Shower trees. The writers wish to take this opportunity to thank Ted Mundorff, the artist, for his trouble in making the reproductions as accurate as possible.

They wish, also, to express appreciation to Mr. Edward L. Caum, botanist with the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Experiment Station, for reading the manuscript and checking the botanical information it contains. Mrs. Arthur Silverman, in the Library of Hawaii, has been most helpful in looking up obscure references.

Works consulted in preparing the book include Rock’s “Ornamental Trees of Hawaii,” and his “Indigenous Trees of Hawaii”; Marie Neal’s book, “In Honolulu Gardens” and Bailey’s Cyclopedia of Horticulture.

Honolulu, 1943