I found this website
http://www.quilting101.com/styles/hawaiian-quilts.html
I also asked a friend of mine and she said pretty much the same thing as this article. The quilts handed down in her family were only symbolic in keeping with the tradition of using two colors, the outline quilting, appliquing the design and the way in which the design is cut out. She did not know anything about particular symbolism about an individual design, as far as she knew the designs were soley an individual's artistic perception of flowers, plants, or whatever inspired them to come up with a design.