Hibiscus caesius
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record
Image 1
Flower
05 Apr 2009
Image 2
Flower
05 Apr 2009
Image 3
Leaf
05 Apr 2009
Image 4
Flower
05 Apr 2009
Image 5
Flower
09 Apr 2009
Image 6
Leaf
23 Mar 2008
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Full name: | Hibiscus caesius Garcke |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | - |
| English common name(s): | Dark-eyed hibiscus |
| Synonym(s): | - |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Up to 150 (200) cm tall, makes a woody perennial shrub with hairy, lobed leaves and quite large, showy yellow or cream with a dark center. Native of rocky sites in South Africa. Shrubby perennial herb, up to 2 m tall, sometimes slightly scrambling. Leaves deeply 3-5 lobed or palmately 3-5-foliolate, lobes/leaflets, up to 10 x 3 cm, stellate hairy mainly below; margin toothed; petiole up to 8 cm long. Flowers solitary, axillary, up to 10 cm in diameter, creamy-yellow with a deep purple or reddish-brown centre. Bracts of epicalyx 7-9, 1.5-3.5 cm long, filiform, stiff and spine-like; margin with small spiny teeth. Capsule ovoid, c. 15 x 13 mm, sparsely covered in rough hairs. Seeds 5 x 3.5 mm, crescent-shaped, very minutely scaly. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) Shrub up to 2 m tall, sometimes subscandent; stems glabrous or sparsely setose. Leaf digitately 3–5-foliolate or palmatisect; leaflets 2–10 x 1–3 cm, with sparse 2–3-pronged hairs mainly on the lower surface, apex acute, margin serrate, base cuneate; petiole up to 8 cm long, pilose or setose-pilose; stipules 10–12 mm long, linear to filiform. Flowers up to 10 cm in diam., yellow or cream with purple or reddish-brown centre, solitary, axillary; peduncle up to 12 cm long, sparsely setose, articulated near the apex. Epicalyx of 7–9 bracts; bracts 1.5–3.5 cm long, stiff, pungent, slightly joined at the base. Calyx up to 3 cm long; lobes up to 3 x 1 cm, ovate-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 3–5-nerved, free almost to the base, sparsely pubescent on the margins. Petals up to 5 x 4 cm, obovate, very sparsely setose or glabrous. Staminal tube 15 mm long; free parts of filaments 1.5–2 mm long. Style projecting 1.5 mm above the apex of the staminal tube before branching; branches 2 mm long. Capsule c. 15 x 13 mm, ovoid, sparsely setose. Seeds 5 x 3.5 mm, lune-shaped, very minutely scaly, with a few scattered hairs, glabrescent. (from JSTOR website / Flora Zambesiaca) Hibiscus caesius is a herbaceous erect, even a small shrub that can reach 1.5 m in height. The leaves are palmate with 3 or 5-toothed lobes (up to 7 x 2 cm) with a petiole up to 8 cm. The flowers are solitary in the armpit leaves on long stalks (up to 15 cm). The épicalice generally comprises 10 segments that are very slender (length 1.5 to 3.5 cm) and lined with tiny hairs.The calyx lobes are shorter and wider than the segments of the épicalice. Corolla up to 8 cm in diameter, is yellow with a purple center. (from www.planetefleurs.fr website, translated from French by Google Translate) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie |
| Content last updated: | 22 Nov 2011 |
