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Chinese lantern, fringe rose-mallow or hibiscus, fringe rosemallow

lindenleaf rosemallow

Habit Shrubs or trees, to 3(–5) m. Stems: new growth essentially glabrous, lines of curved hairs absent. Herbs, perennial, or subshrubs, to 2(–4) m, herbage densely stellate-tomentulose throughout.
Stems

sometimes also with longer, stiff, simple hairs, fine, curved hairs absent or obscured.

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.

stipules linear, 3–10 mm;

petiole 2/3 to equaling blade, shorter in inflorescence, fine, curved hairs absent or obscured adaxially;

blade somewhat discolorous, broadly to transversely ovate, unlobed or shallowly 3(–5)-lobed, rarely proximalmost deeply 5–7-lobed, mostly 6.5–11 × 6–12 cm, base cordate, often deeply so, margins unevenly serrate or crenate-serrate, apex broadly acute to short-acuminate, lobes broadly triangular, surfaces stellate-tomentulose, slitlike nectary present abaxially at or near base of midvein.

Inflorescences

solitary flowers in axils of distal leaves.

solitary flowers in axils of distal leaves, sometimes appearing racemose by reduction of subtending leaves.

Pedicels

jointed at middle or distally, 7.5–15 cm;

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

jointed at bases, to 2.5 cm, shorter than subtending petioles;

involucellar bractlets 9–12, sometimes wide-spreading, terete, 0.8–1.6 cm, margins minutely pubescent, setose, apex 2-fid or appendaged, sometimes obscurely so.

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.

horizontal or declinate;

calyx divided 1/2–2/3 length, campanulate, 1.5–2.4 cm, enlarging in fruit, lobes triangular, with 3 prominent ribs, 2 marginal, 1 medial, medial bearing conspicuous nectary, apices acute or acuminate, variously invested with both minute, stellate hairs and hispid with much larger, simple or stellate, pustular-based hairs, latter often largely confined to veins;

corolla narrowly funnelform, petals pink, maroon at base, obliquely obovate, 5.5–9.5 × 2.5–4.5 cm, margins entire to repand or crenate, finely hairy abaxially where exposed in bud;

staminal column straight, maroon, 3–4.5 cm, bearing filaments ± throughout, free portion of filaments not secund, 0.5–1.5 mm;

pollen maroon;

styles dark maroon, 1–3 mm;

stigmas dark maroon.

Capsules

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

brown, ovoid, 2–2.5 cm, apex acute and apiculate or acuminate, surface obscured by pale yellowish, simple, dense, antrorsely appressed hairs.

Seeds

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

olivaceous brown to reddish or purplish brown, angulately reniform-ovoid, 2.8–3.8 mm, glabrous.

2n

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

= 72.

Hibiscus schizopetalus

Hibiscus furcellatus

Phenology Flowering year-round. Flowering year-round.
Habitat Disturbed sites Freshwater marshes, pine flatwoods, sand pine scrub, fill, canal margins, waste areas
Elevation 0–50 m (0–200 ft) 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]
from FNA
FL; HI; s Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama); n South America; c South America
[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.)

Hibiscus furcellatus is found primarily in counties along the central and southern parts of Florida’s Atlantic coast, although there are a few inland records as well.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 6, p. 261. FNA vol. 6, p. 259.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Hibiscus 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
H. acetosella, H. aculeatus, H. biseptus, H. clypeatus, H. coccineus, H. coulteri, H. dasycalyx, H. denudatus, H. grandiflorus, H. laevis, H. martianus, H. moscheutos, H. mutabilis, H. poeppigii, H. radiatus, H. rosa-sinensis, H. schizopetalus, H. striatus, H. syriacus, H. trionum
Synonyms H. rosa-sinensis var. schizopetalus
Name authority (Dyer) Hooker f.: Bot. Mag. 106: plate 6524. (1880) Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 3: 358. (1789)
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