Colonies of the type strain A6251T are yellow (Honey, Hex code #FFC30B), circular shape, mucoid consistency, smooth surface, convex relief with entire margins, and 0.3–0.6 (avg. 0.45) mm in diameter on yeast dextrose calcium carbonate (YDC) medium plate after incubating at 28°C for 2 days. Cells are gram-negative and able to utilize dextrin, D-maltose, D-trehalose, D-cellobiose, gentiobiose, sucrose, D-turanose, α-D-lactose, D-melibiose, Β-methyl-D-glucoside, D-salicin, N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, α-D-glucose, D-mannose, D-fructose, D-galactose, L-fucose, 1% NaCl, 1% sodium lactate, glycerol, gelatin, L-glutamic acid, lincomycin, pectin, quinic acid, vancomycin, tetrazolium violet, tetrazolium blue, citric acid, bromo-succinic acid, lithium chloride, Tween 40, and acetic Acid. In contrast, cells are unable to oxidize stachyose, D-raffinose, N-acetyl-β-D-mannosamine, N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, N-acetyl-neuraminic acid, 8% NaCl, inosine, fusidic acid, D-sorbitol, D-mannitol, D-arabitol, myo-inositol, D-aspartic acid, minocycline, L-arginine, L-histidine, L-pyroglutamic acid, guanidine HCl, D-gluconic acid, mucic acid, D-saccharic acid, p-hydroxy-phenylacetic acid, D-lactic acid methyl ester, α-keto-glutaric acid, D-malic acid, γ-aminobutryric acid, α-hydroxybutyric acid, α-ketobutyric acid, formic acid, sodium butyrate, and sodium bromate. Some utilization of carbon resources and chemical components showed borderline results or inconsistency between two strains after growing cell suspension in GEN III Microplate (Biolog Inc., Hayward, CA, USA) at 28°C for 24 h. X. hawaiiensis sp. nov. is sensitive to seven tested antibiotics, including bacitracin (50 mg/mL), chloramphenicol (50 mg/mL), gentamicin (50 mg/mL), kanamycin (50 mg/mL), penicillin (50 mg/mL), tetracycline (40 mg/mL), and polymyxin B sulfate (50 mg/mL). The genome size of type strain A6251T is 4.88 Mbp with 68.93 mol% of DNA G + C content.

The type strain A6251T = D-93T = ICMP 25022T = LMG 33200T was isolated from Spathiphyllum (Araceae family) in 1985 in Hawaii, USA. Another strain A2111 = D-194 = ICMP 25023 = LMG 33199 was isolated from Colocasia (Araceae family) in 1986 in Hawaii, USA.