Ma Ivacece Hibiscus, 



8. HIBISCUS. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees. Leaves often lobed. Flowers very 

 large and showy, variously coloured, usually with a dark- 

 coloured spot at the base of each petal. Involucel of many 

 (rarely 4 or 5) more or less united bracts. This differs from all 

 the preceding genera in the staminal column not being 

 antheriferous to the top, and in the 5-celled fruit having more 

 than one seed in each cell, and other particulars. Species 

 very numerous, chiefly from the tropics. The Latin name for 

 a plant of this order. 



1. If. Trionum, syn. H. Africanus. A hispid branched 

 annual, woody at the base. Leaves cordate, palmately lobed, 

 lobes linear. Involucel bracts many, bristly. Flowers yellow with 

 a purple centre. A very widely distributed plant, occurring in 

 Asia, Australia, North and South Africa, and South of Europe. 



Pig 54. Hibiscus roseus. (J nat. size.) Fig. 55. Hibiscus syriacus. (i nat. size.) 



2. H. roseus (fig. 54). This, with its varieties militaris and 

 palustris, is a native of North America ; but in consequence 

 of its having become naturalised in the neighbourhood of 



