Christmas Island Botanical Postage Stamps
Date of issue: 3 September 1998
Illustrator: Clare Kaegi
Printer: McPhersons
Part of a series of 3 stamps on flowering Christmas trees,
with only this one being a native plant.
Plant: Hibiscus tiliaceus
Family: MALVACEAE
Sea Hibiscus, Green Cottonwood
A tree to about 15 m tall which grows on the shore terrace from very near the sea
to the base of the inland cliffs of Christmas Island.
It is a common pan-tropic species and its seeds will float for many weeks,
suggesting
it is dispersed by water.