Sida fallax, known as yellow ilima[1] or golden mallow,[2] is a species of herbaceous flowering plant in the Hibiscus family, Malvaceae, indigenous to the Hawaiian Archipelago and other Pacific Islands.
It is known as ʻilima or ʻāpiki in Hawaiian[3] and as kio in Marshallese,[4] te kaura in Kiribati, idibin ekaura in Nauruan,[5] and akatā in Tuvalu.
[6] In Hawaiian religion, the ʻilima flowers are associated with Laka, the goddess of the hula, and the plant's prostrate form with Pele's brother, Kane-ʻapua, the god of taro planters.
[10] Native Hawaiians used ʻilima flowers to make lei,[11] and it is possibly the only plant cultivated specifically for lei-making in ancient Hawaiʻi.
The bushes are used to help prepare swamp taro beds in Hawaiʻi, and dried leaves and flowers are used as fertilizer, mulch, and sometimes compost in Kiribati.