550 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



Holly Beach, Clermont, Cape May Court House, Cape May, Cape May Pt. 

 (S), Dennisville (S).* 



HIBISCUS L. 



Hibiscus moscheutos !>. Rose Mallow, Swamp Mallow. 



Pi. LXXXI. 



Hibiscus Mosclicntos Linn.-eus, Sp. PI- 693. 1/53 [Canada and Virginia]. — 



Knieskern 10. — ^Willis 14. — Brttton — 70. 



Several stations in the northern counties; along- streams and 

 marshes, but apparently never encroaching beyond the fall line 

 for any distance. Very common southward along the Delaware 

 River and the coast marshes. 



The flowering of the Mallows on the coast and river marshes 

 is perhaps the most extensive display of color that the flora of 

 our region presents. Throughout the m;onth of August they 

 form great masses of pink and white bloom, which can be seen 

 at a long distance, and seem to be laid out over the swamps 

 like flower beds in a garden. 



The flowers are either pink or white, with or without a crim- 

 son eye. Only one style occurs on any given plant, but the plants 

 are usually mixed together indiscrimlinately, and show, besides 

 differently colored flowers, considerable difference in the shape 

 of the leaves, pods and cahoc-lobes. Dr. N. L. Britton has de- 

 scribed as distinct H. oculirosens (c. f. Tour. N. Y. Bot. Garden, 

 iv. 220, 1903) from a plant of the "Crimson-Eye," cultivated 

 and introduced into the nursery trade by Mr. William Bassett, of 

 Hammionton, N. J., from an original plant obtained at Absecon. 

 The wild plants now growing there, however, are normal H. 

 moscheutos, and I regard Dr. Britton's species as a sport due to 

 cultivation, not a native member of the New Jersey flora. 



Fl. — Late July to early September. Fr. — Late September 

 through autumn. 



Middle District— Fish House, Kaighns Pt., W. Deptford, Medford, Penns- 

 grove, Swedesboro, Salem (S), Beaver Dam. 



Coast Strip.— Barnegat Pier, Barnegat City (L), Brant Beach (L), Surf 

 City (L), Beach Haven Terrace (L), Absecon, Atlantic City (S), Ocean City 

 (S), Sea Isle City, Avalon, Piermont (S), Wildwood, Holly Beach, Clermont, 

 Tuckahoe (T), Cape May Court House, Cold Spring (S), Cape May (S), 

 Cape May Pt. (S). 



*The record for Hancock's Bridge (KB), on authority of Miss Cora A. 

 Ware, has not been verified and seems unlikely. 



