A white tiare 'apetahi flower with petals on one side, on the misty Temehani plateau of Raiatea

Explained

The flower that grows
on one mountain.

The tiare 'apetahi is half a flower: five white petals fanned to one side. It grows on the Temehani plateau of Raiatea and nowhere else on Earth.

Tiare 'apetahi, Temehani plateau

Apetahia raiateensis is a shrub of the bellflower family found only on the Temehani plateau, a high basalt tableland on Raiatea. Its flower is white and opens on one side only, five slender petals spread like the fingers of a hand. It opens at dawn, and the legend says it does so with a faint crack, the sound of a girl's heart breaking for a chief's son she could not marry.

01 · Why it is rare

One plateau,
a few hundred plants.

The plant grows in the thin, acid, waterlogged soil of the plateau, in cloud and wind, and attempts to cultivate it elsewhere have failed. Rats eat the seeds, introduced plants crowd it, and for generations visitors picked the flowers. It is listed as critically endangered, protected by law, and counted in the hundreds. Taking a flower is an offence and, more to the point, removes one of the few.

The hike to the plateau is rated hard, about six hours with a guide, on a route that is unmarked in places. Tahiti Tourisme says a guide is required on one page and strongly recommended on another; take one either way. Go for the plateau, the view over the lagoon and Taha'a, and the chance of seeing a flower open. Do not touch it.