Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Hibiscus grandiflorus
Chinese hibiscus, shoe-black plant
swamp rose-mallow
stipules linear to lanceolate, 8–16 mm;
petiole usually to 1/3 blade, adaxial groove hairy with minute, ± sinuous hairs, sometimes villous;
blade ovate, unlobed or only very rarely lobed, 5–12 × 3–8.5 cm, base rounded to cuneate, margins coarsely serrate in distal 2/3–3/4, apex acute to short-acuminate, surfaces glabrate, nectary present abaxially on midvein near base.
solitary flowers, in axils of distal leaves.
jointed closer to flower, 4–9.5 cm, sparsely stellate-pilose or ± glabrous;
involucellar bractlets 6–8, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly triangular, 0.3–2.2 cm, width varying in same flower, margins not ciliate, surface and margins puberulent or glabrate.
showy, horizontal or declinate, sometimes double;
calyx divided 1/2–3/4 length, narrowly campanulate, 2–3 cm, lobes triangular or narrowly so, apices acute to acuminate, often minutely, sparingly hairy, nectaries absent;
corolla funnelform to rotate or petals slightly reflexed, petals usually red, sometimes pink, white, or yellow (or other colors in horticultural forms), usually darker at base, broadly to narrowly obovate, 6–10.5 × 4–6.5 cm, margins entire or crenate, often undulate, finely hairy abaxially mostly where exposed in bud;
staminal column straight or moderately curved, usually red, often pink or white, 6.5–11.5 cm, bearing filaments in distal 1/2;
free portion of filaments not secund, 3–9 mm, pollen yellow;
styles red, pink, or white, 6–15 mm;
stigmas usually reddish, sometimes golden yellow.
horizontal or ascending;
calyx divided to ± middle, broadly campanulate, 2.9–6 cm, larger in fruit, lobes triangular, apices acute to subcaudate, velvety-hairy, nectaries absent;
corolla broadly to narrowly funnelform, petals pale pink to white, red basally, narrowly obovate, usually not conspicuously overlapping, 8.5–14 × 4–8.5 cm, apical margins repand, finely hairy abaxially where exposed in bud;
staminal column straight, pink to white, 6.2–9.5 cm, length 2/3 petals, bearing filaments throughout its length, free portion of filaments secund, 3–9 mm;
pollen yellow;
styles white, 7–17 mm;
stigmas yellow.
seldom produced, brown, ovoid, 2.5–3 cm, apex rounded or beaked, glabrous.
light to dark brown, ovoid to subglobose, 2.2–3.5 cm, apex apiculate, hispid with simple, yellowish-brown to reddish-brown hairs.
(rarely produced in cultivation), dark brown to black, reniform, 5 mm, minutely pubescent.
brown to reddish brown, reniform-globose, 2.8–3.1 mm, verrucose-papillose.
= 36, 46, 54, 63, 68, 72, 77, 84, 90, 92, 96, 112, 132, 144, 147, 150, 160, 165, 168, 180, 225 (all cultivars).
= 38.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Hibiscus grandiflorus
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is widely cultivated in the Tropics and subtropics, often as a hedge plant; it naturalizes sparingly, probably throughout its cultivated range. It is not known to exist anywhere as a native occurrence; it has been thought to have originated in China (C. Linnaeus 1753), Africa (J. van Borssum Waalkes 1966; A. C. Smith 1979–1996, vol. 2), or the New World Tropics (L. van der Pijl 1937; G. F. Carter 1954; see also H. D. V. Prendergast 1982). As broadly circumscribed here, H. rosa-sinensis includes a wealth of hybrids and other selections and, as its range of chromosome numbers suggests, it has had a complicated history in cultivation (F. Singh and T. N. Khoshoo 1970), which probably includes hybridization with the African H. schizopetalus and the Hawaiian H. arnottianus A. Gray, H. kokio Hillebrand, and H. waimeae A. Heller (E. V. Wilcox and V. S. Holt 1913). It usually fails to set seed and is generally propagated by cuttings.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The flowers of Hibiscus grandiflorus first open in the evening, emit a pleasant fragrance, and are pollinated by sphingid moths (O. J. Blanchard 1976). It is relatively common only in Florida. Hibiscus grandiflorus is sometimes cultivated and has been found to be hardy as far north as Illinois (S. R. Hill, pers. comm.).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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