5013.000 Hibiscus L.

Description of the genus

Annual, biennial or perennial herbs or shrubs. Leaves simple and palmately lobed or digitately compound. Flowers usually solitary and axillary, but often forming terminal inflorescences by reduction of the upper leaves, yellow with a dark centre or red, pink, purplish or white. Epicalyx of 5-20 bracts, rarely 0. Calyx with 5 lobes or (rarely) 5-10 teeth. Ovary 4-5-locular; each loculus with 3-many ovules. Style 5-branched. Fruit a loculicidally dehiscent capsule.

Derivation of name: Greek name for the marsh mallow

Worldwide: c.300 species occurring in warm temperate and tropical areas of the world

Malawi: 28 taxa.

Insects associated with this genus:
Abantis paradisea (Paradise skipper) Larval foodplant
Filodes costivitralis (Window pearl) Larval food plant
No image yet

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
acetosella Welw. ex HiernDescription, Image
allenii Sprague & Hutch.CDescription, Image
articulatus Hochst. ex A. Rich.N,C,SDescription, Image
burtt-davyi Dunkley[NrEnd]SDescription, Image
caesius GarckeSDescription, Image
cannabinus L.N,C,SDescription, Image
debeerstii De Wild. & T. DurandNDescription, Image
diversifolius Jacq. subsp. rivularis (Bremek. & Oberm.) ExellC,SDescription, Image
fuscus GarckeN,S
jacksonianus ExellC,S
lobatus (Murray) KuntzeN,SDescription, Image
ludwigii Eckl. & Zeyh.N,CDescription, Image
micranthus L.f.NDescription, Image
migeodii ExellNDescription, Image
mutatus N.E.Br.SDescription, Image
nigricaulis BakerCDescription, Image
nyikensis Sprague N
ovalifolius (Forssk.) VahlN,SDescription, Image
panduriformis Burm. f.C,SDescription, Image
physaloides Guill. & Perr.N,SDescription, Image
praeteritus R.A. DyerSDescription, Image
rhodanthus GürkeN,CDescription, Image
rupicola Exell[NrEnd]?
sabdariffa L.C,S
shirensis Sprague & Hutch.N,C,SDescription, Image
sidiformis Baill.N,CDescription, Image
surattensis L.SDescription, Image
vitifolius L. subsp. vitifolius N,C,SDescription, Image

Other sources of information about Hibiscus:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Hibiscus
Flora of Burundi: Hibiscus
Flora of Caprivi: Hibiscus
Flora of the DRC: Hibiscus
Flora of Mozambique: Hibiscus
Flora of Mozambique: cultivated Hibiscus
Flora of Zambia: Hibiscus
Flora of Zimbabwe: Hibiscus
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Hibiscus

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Hibiscus
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Hibiscus
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Hibiscus
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Hibiscus
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Hibiscus
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Hibiscus
JSTOR Plant Science: Hibiscus
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Hibiscus
Plants of the World Online: Hibiscus
Tropicos: Hibiscus
Wikipedia: Hibiscus

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-25

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2025). Flora of Malawi: Genus page: Hibiscus.
https://www.malawiflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=942, retrieved 3 April 2025

Site software last modified: 5 February 2025 2:16pm (GMT +2)
Terms of use