Flora of North America species comparison

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Hibiscus schizopetalus

Chinese lantern, fringe rose-mallow or hibiscus, fringe rosemallow
Habit Shrubs or trees, to 3(–5) m.
Stems

new growth essentially glabrous, lines of curved hairs absent.
Leaves

stipules narrowly triangular, 1–2.5 mm;

petiole to 1/3 blade, adaxial groove hairy with minute, ± sinuous hairs;

blade lanceolate-ovate to ovate, unlobed, 3.5–10.5 × 1.5–4 cm, base rounded to cuneate, margins coarsely serrate in distal 2/3–3/4, apex acute to short-acuminate, ± pinnately veined, surfaces glabrate, nectary present abaxially on midvein near base.
Inflorescences

solitary flowers in axils of distal leaves.
Pedicels

jointed at middle or distally, 7.5–15 cm;

involucellar bractlets 6–8, triangular, 0.06–0.18 cm, margins not ciliate.
Flowers

pendulous;

calyx divided 1/8–1/2 length, often 3-lobed, tubular to narrowly funnelform, (1–)1.4–2 cm, lobes broadly triangular, apices acute to obtuse, glabrate, neither accrescent nor inflated, nectaries absent;

petals strongly recurved, rose-pink to red, darker on veins, broadly to narrowly obovate, deeply and irregularly pinnatifid-laciniate, 4–6.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm, glabrous;

staminal column straight or curved apically, pendulous, pink to red, 5.5–9 cm, bearing filaments in distal 1/3–1/2, free portion of filaments not secund, 4.5–7.5 mm;

pollen yellow;

styles pink to red, 7–15 mm;

stigmas pink to red.
Capsules

brown, oblong-cylindric, 3.5–4 cm, glabrous or puberulent.
Seeds

brown, angulately reniform-ovoid, 2–3 mm, smooth, glabrous or puberulent.
2n

= 34, 40, 42, 45 (all cultivars).

Hibiscus schizopetalus
Phenology Flowering year-round.
Habitat Disturbed sites
Elevation 0–50 m (0–200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; e Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, s Asia, elsewhere in Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Apparently native only in Kenya, Tanzania, and perhaps Mozambique, Hibiscus schizopetalus is widely cultivated in the Tropics and occasionally escapes. The occurrence in many H. rosa-sinensis cultivars of semipendulous, long-pedicelled flowers with variously

crenate, undulate petals suggests the involvement of H. schizopetalus. Hybrids between H. schizopetalus and H. rosa-sinensis can be called H. ×archeri W. Watson. Typification of H. schizopetalus was discussed by M. Cheek (1989).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 261.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Hibiscus
Sibling taxa
H. acetosella, H. aculeatus, H. biseptus, H. clypeatus, H. coccineus, H. coulteri, H. dasycalyx, H. denudatus, H. furcellatus, H. grandiflorus, H. laevis, H. martianus, H. moscheutos, H. mutabilis, H. poeppigii, H. radiatus, H. rosa-sinensis, H. striatus, H. syriacus, H. trionum
Synonyms H. rosa-sinensis var. schizopetalus
Name authority (Dyer) Hooker f.: Bot. Mag. 106: plate 6524. (1880)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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