Flora of North America species comparison

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Hibiscus grandiflorus

swamp rose-mallow
Habit Herbs, perennial, to 3 m. Stems glabrous or rarely stellate-hairy on younger parts, without line of minute, curved length 1/2–1 times petioles, glabrate or finely hairy; involucellar bractlets 9–13, linear-subulate, 1.3–2.7 cm, margins not ciliate, velvety-hairy.
Flowers

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.
Capsules

light to dark brown, ovoid to subglobose, 2.2–3.5 cm, apex apiculate, hispid with simple, yellowish-brown to reddish-brown hairs.
Seeds

brown to reddish brown, reniform-globose, 2.8–3.1 mm, verrucose-papillose.
2n

= 38.

Hibiscus grandiflorus
Phenology Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug(–Sep).
Habitat Freshwater and brackish marshes
Elevation 0–20 m (0–100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX; West Indies (w Cuba)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 263.
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. laevis, H. martianus, H. moscheutos, H. mutabilis, H. poeppigii, H. radiatus, H. rosa-sinensis, H. schizopetalus, H. striatus, H. syriacus, H. trionum
Synonyms H. urbanii
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 46. (1803)
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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