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.