General Information |
Distribution | Cultivated worldwide throughout the tropics and subtropics, occasionally becoming naturalized.
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Habit
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Shrub or small tree, 1‒5 m tall; young branches, petioles, and pedicels sparsely stellate-pubescent or glabrate.
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Leaves
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Leaves petiolate; blade ovate to broadly ovate, 4‒8 cm long, 2‒5 cm wide, lobed or not, margin serrate-dentate, adaxially glabrous or glabrate, abaxially glabrous or minutely and sparsely stellate pubescent; stipules 5‒10 mm long, linear-subulate; petiole 0.5‒3 cm long.
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Flowers
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Inflorescences axillary with flower solitary, erect or subpendulous; involucral bracts 6‒9, 5‒15 mm long, linear or linear-lanceolate. Flower on pedicel 1‒8 cm long, articulate distally; calyx tubular-campanulate, 1.5‒2.5 cm long, lobes 5‒15 mm long, triangular to lanceolate; corolla 4‒9 cm across, pink or red, sometimes white, yellow, or orange, with or without a dark center, petals obovate or oblong-obovate, 5‒9 cm long, 3‒7 cm wide, obtuse or irregularly lobed at apex (double- or triple-flowered forms are frequent); staminal column exserted, antheriferous near the apex.
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Fruit
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Fruit 1‒2 cm long, glabrous, ovoid.
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Seeds
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Seeds usually aborted, since many cultivated forms are sterile.
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Notes
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Either a Polynesian or very early European introduction into Pacific region, probably with subsequent modern introductions of different cultivars. The origin of this species is uncertain, although it has been said to be native to China. It is probably indigenous in East Africa with a related species Hibiscus schizopetalus L., which was first collected in the wild in this area (Borssum Waalkes 1966). Many forms, varieties, and cultivars occur, probably the result of extensive hybridization. There are many cultivars and putative hybrids between this species and H. schizopetalus, including H. × archeri W. Wats.
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Contributor
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David Lorence
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