For our milestone 50th anniversary of statehood next week, it is befitting that O'ahu, where more than 70 percent of Hawai'i's population lives, is represented by the golden 'ilima.

On May 2, 1923, territorial Gov. Wallace Rider Farrington endorsed Joint Resolution No. 1, which designated the pua 'ilima as the flower emblem of O'ahu.

On June 9, 2000, Gov. Benjamin J. Cayetano signed Act 165, which reads:

"The pua 'ilima from the native dodder shrubs (Sida fallax) is established and designated as the official flower of the island of O'ahu."

'Ilima is indigenous to Hawai'i, growing on all major islands and on Nihoa and Midway Atoll. According to oral Marshallese history, Wake Island in Micronesia was known as Enen-kio ("island of the orange flower"), because of the abundance of 'ilima. The plant is pervasive over the Pacific to China. In Hawai'i, it survives on sandy and rocky coastline, raised limestone reefs, lava terrain, pastures, dry to damp forests, and rarely wet forests.

The plant displays high variation in flower color and shape, leaf size and structure, height and hair density. Beach plants — 'ilima ku kahakai and 'ilima papa — were prostrate, sprawling mats, while upland forms — 'ilima ku kala - were erect and shrub-shaped. Flower colors varied from light yellow — 'ilima halenalena — to deep orange-yellow — 'ilima melemele — to a bronze-red — 'ilima 'ula'ula or 'ilima koli kukui.

In landscaping, 'ilima papa is a magnificent and easy-to-grow dry-climate ground cover.

Early Hawaiians used 'ilima medicinally. The juice extracted from pressed flowers was a mild laxative (kanaka maika'i) for keiki. A pregnant wahine would consume flowers until childbirth. Root bark was combined with flowers to treat asthma. Buds were chewed to alleviate thirst.

The stems of large cultivated 'ilima were used for slats in house frames, and also lashed together for encircling kalo-planting mounds in swampland. Simple, makeshift baskets were fashioned by plaiting whole plants collectively.

The cultivated flower ('ilima lei) is reincarnated into the most extraordinarily majestic lei of Hawai'i. The earliest written record of gathering and lei-making with 'ilima was in 1819, in Kailua, Kona, by French botanist Charles Gaudichaud. Lei 'ilima was the favorite of Queen Emma. 'Ilima was one of the kinolau of Laka, a goddess of hula. The flower is recited in the epic myth of Hi'iaka and Pele. There is an old Hawaiian riddle: "In the evening, gathered; in the morning, pierced; in the forenoon, hung in the air." Answer: 'Ilima.

The 'ilima lei is a superlative portrayal of a "labor of love." Whether gloriously draped over pa'u riders representing the island of O'ahu, or on everyday people or individuals of the highest rank, the golden anniversary of Hawai'i statehood is impeccably reflected by the exquisite and elegant sunshine of 'ilima.