5013.000 Hibiscus L.

Hauman, L. (1963) Malvaceae Flore du Congo du Ruanda et du Burundi Volume X 92-190

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

Mozambique: 3 cultivated taxa.

Insects associated with this genus:
Abantis paradisea (Paradise skipper) Larval foodplant
Filodes costivitralis (Window pearl) Larval food plant
No image of a cultivated species but there is an image of a native or naturalised species

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

SpeciesContent
rosa-sinensis L.
schizopetalus (Mast.) Hook.f.Description, Image
tiliaceus L.Description, Image

Other sources of information about Hibiscus:

Our websites:

Flora of Angola: Hibiscus
Flora of Botswana: Hibiscus
Flora of Burundi: Hibiscus
Flora of Caprivi: Hibiscus
Flora of the DRC: Hibiscus
Flora of Kenya: Hibiscus
Flora of Kenya: cultivated Hibiscus
Flora of Malawi: Hibiscus
Flora of Mozambique: Hibiscus
Flora of Rwanda: Hibiscus
Flora of Tanzania: Hibiscus
Flora of Tanzania: cultivated Hibiscus
Flora of Uganda: 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
Plants of the World Online: Hibiscus
Tropicos: Hibiscus
Wikipedia: Hibiscus

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2007-26

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2026). Flora of Mozambique: Cultivated plants: Genus page: Hibiscus.
https://www.mozambiqueflora.com/cult/genus.php?genus_id=942, retrieved 13 November 2026

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