Hedyotis is a large tropical to subtropical genus of more than 250 species. The genus is represented by 22 species in Hawai`i. Twenty species are endemic and two are naturalized weeds. Formerly Hawaiian Hedyotis was treated as two genera based primarily on fruit characteristics (drupes or capsules). Presently, the Hawaiian species are placed into two subgenera, Polynesiotis and Kadua, based on inflorescence rather than fruit characters. The drupaceous species now make up two of the six sections within the subgenus Polynesiotis and Kadua is represented by a single section. Cladistic analysis of nucleotide sequence data from the nuclear ITS regions 1 and 2 indicate that: (1) the section of the subgenus Kadua is nested within the sections of the subgenus Polynesiotis; (2) the drupaceous taxa and the capsular taxa form two distinct clades that are further resolved into clades which for the most part delimit the taxonomic the sections and; (3) within the capsular-fruited clade section Bikkiocarpa (one species endemic to east Maui) is placed within the section Gouldiopsis and varies morphologically from other members of this section by having rounded flower buds and elongate capsules. This research is supported by the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Foundation.

Key words: Hawai`i, Hedyotis, ITS