Malvaceae. 137 
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. 
The Commox Red Hibiscus. 
The Red Hibiscus, commonly cultivated as a hedge plant in 
Honolulu, is too well-known to need description ; it is present in 
every yard in Honolulu, being usually planted in hedges. It is prob- 
ably a native of southeastern Asia, but is now in cultivation in all 
tropical and subtropical countires. 
There are now numerous varieties of Hibiscus of all colors, single 
as well as double ones. A number of Honolulu people have made 
a hobby of cross-fertilizing the red Chinese Hibiscus with some of 
the native Hibiscus, of which there are two or three white flower- 
ing species, all trees, besides two red ones and a yellow one. 
The writer would refer anyone especially interested in Hibiscus 
and their hybrids here in Honolulu to a bulletin published by the 
Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station, under the title: "Orna- 
mental Hibiscus in Hawaii," by E. V. Wilcox and V. P. Holt. Bull. 
No. 29 (1913). 
It may be remarked that an infusion of the flowers produces a 
dye of a purplish hue. It is said that a red dye obtained from the 
flowers is used in coloring paper. The Chinese are said to utilize the 
flowers in a similar way and also to make a black dye from the petals 
for their hair and eyebrows. 
The flowers are considered of medicinal value, and an infusion of 
the petals is given as a demulcent. The leaves are said to be emollient 
and laxative. 
The bark, like that of //. mutabilis, yields a good fibre. 
Hibiscus schizopetalus Hook. f. 
Coral Hibiscus. 
The so-called Coral Hibiscus is an erect, glabrous shrub, four 
to twelve feet high, with the branches often elongated and drooping; 
the leaves are oblong to egg-shaped, pointed, and have toothed mar- 
gins. The flowers are borne singly in the axils of the leaves on long 
pendulous flower-stalks. The corolla is red, recurved and finely split 
into numerous slender laciniate lobes. The staminal tube is long- 
exserted and pendulous. This rather handsome species is common in 
cultivation and flowers all the year. It is in all probability a native 
of Africa, but is now cultivated in many tropical countries and can 
be found in nearly every garden of Honolulu, either as individual 
shrubs or planted as a tree hedge, as for example, on Young Street, 
