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Wiliwili is a species (Erythrina sandwicensis) of tree in the flowering plant family, Fabaceae. This plant, endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, is typically found in dry forests on leeward island slopes up to an elevation of 600 m. Although a number of introduced species of Erythrina occur in the Hawaiian Islands, the wiliwili is distinguished by a pod with only 1-3 red or yellow-orange seeds. Mature wiliwili trees have a distinct orange cast to the bark of the main trunk.
The wiliwili is summer (dry-season) deciduous. Typically, the trees lose all of their leaves as the dry season (usually beginning around late April or May) progresses. They then burst into flower in late August or September. Pods develop and persist on the tree, the seeds being knocked out by heavy downpours that generally start around November in the islands. Many seeds germinate quickly, and a well-established seedling can grow to 4-feet in height before the start of the next dry season.
The wiliwili is unusual in bearing spines -- unusual, because this is a species that has evolved in the Hawaiian Islands in the absence of ungulate or other large herbivores. This species is thought to be closely related to E. tahitensis, an endemic found in the Tahitian Archipelago, and E. velutina, a species wide-spread in northern South American and the West Indies.
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