Species: Hibiscus syriacus
English Name: Rosa of Sharon
Chinese Name: 木槿
Family: Malvaceae
Description:
Shrubs deciduous, erect, 1.5-4 m tall. Branchlets yellow stellate puberulent. Stipules filiform-subulate, ca. 6 mm, pilose; petiole 5-25 mm, stellate pubescent adaxially; leaf blade rhomboid to triangular-ovate or broadly lanceolate, variously 3-lobed or entire, 3-10 × 2-4 cm, papery, abaxially puberulent along veins or glabrous, adaxially glabrous, basal veins 3-5, base cuneate, margin irregularly incised, apex obtuse to subacute. Flowers solitary, axillary on upper branches. Pedicel 4-14 mm, stellate puberulent. Epicalyx lobes 6-8, filiform, 6-20 × 0.5-2 mm, ± free, connate at base only, densely stellate puberulent, apex obtuse or acute. Calyx campanulate, 14-20 mm, densely stellate puberulent, lobes 5, triangular. Corolla blue-purple, violet, white, pink, or reddish, sometimes with darker center, campanulate, sometimes double, 5-6 cm in diam.; petals obovate, 3.5-4.5 cm, pilose and stellate villous abaxially. Staminal column ca. 3 cm. Style glabrous. Capsule ovoid-globose, ca. 12 mm in diam., densely yellow stellate puberulent. Seeds reniform, with yellow-white hairs abaxially. Fl. Jul-Oct.
Photos used under a Creative Commons license
References:
– Wu ZY, Raven PH, Hong DY (eds) (2007). Flora of China, Volume 12: Hippocastanaceae through Theaceae. Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Bot Garden Press, St. Louis