686 



HIB 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



HI B 



for food when the bread-fruit fails : and in New Caledonia 

 the inhabitants frequently subsist on it, though it is insipid 

 food, affording very little nourishment. These accounts are 

 attested by Hawksworth and Forster. 



13. Hibiscus Simplex. Leaves cordate, three-lobed, repand, 

 quite entire ; stem arboreous, entirely simple. Native of 

 Asia. Propagated in the same way as the third species. 



14. Hibiscus Ovalifolius. Leaves oval, and subangular ; 

 outer calices five-leaved. The flowers have the size and 

 appearance of those of the thirty-third species ; seeds villose. 

 For its propagation and culture, see the third species. 



15. Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis ; Chinese-Rose Hibiscut. 

 Leaves ovate-acuminate, serrate ; stem arboreous. In India 

 it attains to the size of an ordinary tree ; with us it is a round- 

 stemmed, erect shrub with alternate spreading branches, that 

 are wand-like, leafy, brownish green, and nearly smooth ; 

 flowers axillary, solitary, peduncled, large, of a deep scarlet 

 colour ; peduncles twice as long as the petioles, round, straight, 

 thicker towards the top, with a joint beyond the middle. It 

 is extremely common in the gardens of China and the East 

 Indies, but its native country is unknown. Loureiro however 

 affirms that it is spontaneous, as well as cultivated, both in 

 China and Cochin-china ; and that it is so common in the 

 latter, that they have entire hedges of it to their gardens. It 

 has been long known from its appearance on Chinese screens 

 and paper-hangings. The variety with double flowers is most 

 frequently cultivated both in the East and in European hot- 

 houses ; it is indeed rarely seen with single ones. Loureiro 

 remarks also, that the double-flowered white variety is more 

 difficult to cultivate, and diners a little from the others in 

 having gash-serrate leaves. He likewise mentions another 

 variety with large, double, brick-coloured flowers. But in so 

 favourite a plant, we should not be surprised if there were 

 many more varieties. Rumphius says, that the white-flowered 

 variety is not esteemed in the East, for the inhabitants of 

 India are extremely partial to whatever is red, which they 

 consider as a colour tending to exhilarate. They form these 

 handsome flowers into garlands and festoons on all occasions 

 of festivity, and even in their sepulchral rites. They are put 

 also to a use which seems very inconsistent with their ele- 

 gance and beauty, that of blacking shoes, from which they 

 derived the name of Rosse Calceolarias, and Shoe-flower. 

 The women employ them to colour their hair and eye-brows 

 black. Mr. Miller, who cultivated this flower as far back as 

 the year 1731, informs us that he had never seen it with 

 single flowers, which even now are rarely met with in our 

 stoves. With double flowers it is common, thrives well, and 

 is in blow during the greatest part of the summer. The 

 single flowers are certainly of short duration, but that defect 

 is compensated by their curious and beautiful structure. 

 This most splendid and beautiful plant is perennial, and may 

 be propagated by cuttings, but requires the protection of a 

 hot-house or of the bark-stove. 



16. Hibiscus Brasiliensis; Brazilian Hibiscus. Leaves 

 cordate, toothletted ; outer calix double the length of the 

 other; stem shrubby; branches rough with hairs; stipules 

 awl-shaped ; peduncles one-flowered, longer than the leaves. 

 Native of Brazil. For its propagation and culture, see the 

 third species. 



17. Hibiscus Hirtus; Hairy Hibiscus. Leaves lanceolate- 

 ovate, acuminate, serrate ; branches scabrous ; stem herba- 

 ceous. This is a small plant, with a purple corolla and 

 woolly seeds. Native of the East Indies. For its propa- 

 gation and culture, see the third species. 



18. Hibiscus Phoeniceus ; Purple Hibiscus. Leaves ovate, 

 acuminate, serrate ; peduncles jointed, thickened above the 



joints; lobes longer; calices naked ; seed woolly. Linneus 

 has called this a variety of the preceding, but it appears to be 

 a distinct species. It is a very beautiful shrub, blows in our 

 stoves the whole summer, and is highly ornamental with its 

 deep red flowers. For its propagation, see the third species. 



19. Hibiscus Mutabilis; Changeable Rose-Hibiscus. Leaves 

 cordate, five-angled, obscurely serrate ; stem arboreous, pale, 

 single, smooth, spreading out wide into leafy branches at 

 top, the wood resembling that of the Fig; petioles rough, 

 thick, three or four inches in length ; peduncles thicker 

 towards the top, sometimes tinged with red, sustaining large 

 handsome flowers, which alter their colour ; for at their first 

 opening they are white, then they change to a blush rose 

 colour, and as they decay turn to a purple. In the West 

 Indies all these changes take place in one day ; but in Eng- 

 land, where they last nearly a week, the changes are not so 

 sudden. It is a native of the East Indies and Japan. The 

 French first earned the seeds to their settlements in the West 

 Indies ; and the inhabitants of the British colonies there, 

 being supplied with the seeds from them, have given it the 

 name of Martinico Rose. It varies with double flowers, from 

 which the single is frequently produced ; but the seeds of 

 the single seldom vary to the double. It blows in our stoves 

 in November and December, and is much cultivated in the 

 gardens of China and Cochin-china. The plants of this sort 

 should not be quite exposed to the open air the first season ; 

 and the first winter will require the warmth of a moderate 

 stove ; but as they acquire more strength, they will need less 

 care, for they will bear the open air in summer in a warm 

 sheltered situation, and will survive the winter in a good 

 green-house, provided they have not too much moisture ; but 

 the plants thus hardily treated will not make so great pro- 

 gress nor flower so well, as with a little additional warmth ; 

 and if too tenderly managed, will draw up weak, and be less 

 likely to flower. 



20. Hibiscus Spinifex; Prickly-fruited Hibiscus. Leaves 

 cordate, crenate, undivided ; capsules set with spines stand- 

 ing out. It flowers here in July. Native of the West Indies. 

 For its propagation and culture, see the third species. 



21. Hibiscus Solandra; Maple-leaved Hibiscus. Leaves 

 subcordate, three-cusped, serrate ; calices uncalicled ; root 

 annual ; stalk upright, branched on every side, round, hollow, 

 a foot and a half high; racemes terminating, upright, villose, 

 two inches long; flowers alternate, stiflf, four or five lines 

 wide ; peduncles upright, round, villose, jointed at the tip, 

 becoming twice or thrice longer when in fruit; filaments 

 shorter than the corolla. It flowers in July and August. 

 Native of the Isle of Bourbon. For its propagation and cul- 

 ture, see the third species. 



22. Hibiscus Syriacus; Syrian Shrubby Hibiscus, or Al- 

 thcea Frutex. Leaves wedge-form, ovate, grsh-serrate toward* 

 the end ; stem arboreous. It rises to the height of six or 

 seven feet, sending out many woody branches covered with 

 a smooth gray bark ; the flowers come out from the wings of 

 the stalk at every joint of the same yar's shoot ; they are 

 large, and shaped like those of the Mallow, having five large 

 roundish petals, which join at their base, spreading open at 

 the top in the shape of an open bell : they appear in August, 

 and if the season be not over warm, there will be a succession 

 of flowers during a part of September. It is commonly called 

 Althaea Frutex by the nursery gardeners, who propagate the 

 shrubs for sale: there are four or five varieties, which differ 

 in the colour of their flowers; the most common has pale 

 purple flowers, with dark bottoms ; another has bright purple 

 flowers with black bottoms; a third, white flowers with purple 

 bottoms ; a fourth, variegated flowers with dark bottoms ; a 



