Saturday, July 23, 2016

Crimsoneyed Rosemallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) Has White to Red Flowers


Summary: Crimsoneyed rosemallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) is a New World native flowering plant with a long blooming period for its large white to red flowers.


Hibiscus moscheutos, Potomac Heritage Trail, Arlington County, northern Virginia; Monday, July 16, 2012, 10:19: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Crimsoneyed rosemallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), a New World shrubby, flowering perennial with a long period of successive bloomings of large white, pink or red flowers.
Hibiscus moscheutos claims New World homelands in North America. In Canada, Hibiscus moscheutos is native only in the east central province of Ontario. Canada has designed the normally robust perennial as special concern species since April 1987.
In the United States, crimsoneyed rosemallow is native to 30 of the Lower 48 states. Hibiscus moscheutos occurs natively in Atlantic Ocean states from Florida northward through Massachusetts and New York; in Gulf Coast states northward through Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and, skipping over Arkansas, through Missouri; northwestward through two of the American Southwest’s Four Corners states, New Mexico and Utah.
Preferred habitats revolve around the moisture and sunniness of wetland ecosystems. Hibiscus moscheutos thrives in floodplains and along riverbanks as well as in marshes and swamps.
Hibiscus moscheutos is commonly known as crimsoneyed rosemallow. Other common names include eastern rosemallow, hardy hibiscus, swamp rose-mallow and wild rose mallow.
Hibiscus moscheutos has two to four subspecies. The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), a partnership of North American governmental agencies with international taxonomic experts, agrees with the U.S. Forest Service in identifying Hibiscus moscheutos var. lasiocarpos and Hibiscus moscheutos var. moscheutos as crimsoneyed rosemallow’s two subspecies. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), lists two additional subspecies: incanus and palustris.
Hibiscus moscheutos is especially amenable to hybridizing with three other native hibiscus species of eastern North America: coccineus, laevis and militaris. Hibiscus moscheutos also hybridizes well with swamp rose mallow, which is considered either as a distinct species (Hibiscus palustris) or as a subspecies (Hibiscus moscheutos ssp. palustris).
Crimsoneyed rosemallow’s great variability encourages a steady development of cultivars usually known as dinner plate hibiscuses because of their strikingly oversized flowers. In 2012, the London-based Royal Horticultural Society honored the ‘Southern Belle Group’ cultivar with its Award of Garden Merit (AGM), a mark of quality awarded annually since 1922. The award recognizes plants with reliable performance in gardens.
The perennial’s upright stems arise from a large, persistent, underground woody rootstock, known as a caudex. Large storage roots are attached to the caudex (Latin: “tree stem, tree trunk”).
Stems reach heights of 3 to 8 feet (1 to 2.5 meters). The number of stems emerging from a caudex may range from only a few to many.
Large leaves form alternate arrangements along stems. Broad leaves have lanceolate (Latin: lanceolatus, “lance-like”) or ovate (Latin: ovatus, “egg-shaped”) shapes, with serrated edges. Leaves measures lengths of 3.14 to 8.66 inches (8 to 22 centimeters) and widths of 3.14 to 5.9 inches (8 to 15 centimeters).
Foliage typically has a light or medium green coloring. Yet some cultivars put forth bronze or purple colored leaves. Introduced by Fleming’s Flower Fields in 1997, Hibiscus x moscheutos ‘Kopper King’ presents dramatic leaf colorings of bronze-green in youth and burgundy at maturity.
Individually, flowers are ephemeral, with opening and closing lasting only one or two days. Yet, successively blooming new flowers account for a lengthy blooming period that may extend from May through October.
Large flowers open as five overlapped petals. Petal coloring may be pink, red or white.  Flowers typically feature a red or reddish purple throat, the opening of the calyx tube, which bears sepals and stamens, at the base of the petals. Coloring of each flower’s five sepals ranges from light to yellowish green.
Fruits are globular or egg-shaped capsules. Hard-coated seeds measure diameters of less than 0.11 inches (3 millimeters).
Crimsoneyed rosemallow attests to the beauty of wetland dwelling plants.

closeup of Hibiscus moscheutos foliage and calyces with fruit, or seedpod, split open to reveal seeds; Martin Creek State Lake Park, Rusk County, East Texas; Sunday, Sep. 21, 2014, 08:34:07: Michael Gras, M.Ed (mikegras), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment
My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:
Hibiscus moscheutos, Potomac Heritage Trail, Arlington County, northern Virginia; Monday, July 16, 2012, 10:19: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hibiscus_moscheutos_-_Crimsoneyed_Rosemallow.jpg
closeup of Hibiscus moscheutos foliage and calyces with fruit, or seedpod, split open to reveal seeds; Martin Creek State Lake Park, Rusk County, East Texas; Sunday, Sep. 21, 2014, 08:34:07: Michael Gras, M.Ed (mikegras), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikegras/15122268297/

For further information:
Fleming, G.P.; P.P. Coulling; K.D. Patterson; K. Taverna. The Natural Communities of Virginia: Classification of Ecological Community Groups. Second approximation. Version 2.2. 2006.
Available @ http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/natural-communities/ncintro
Gill, Dan. “A Hardy Hibiscus with Dinner-Plate-Sized Flowers is a Star of the Summer Garden.” The Times-Picayune > Louisiana Home and Garden. May 8, 2014.
Available @ http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2014/05/a_hardy_hibiscus_that_can_weat.html
“Hardy Hibiscus, Rose Mallow, Swamp Mallow ‘Kopper King’ Hibiscus moscheutos.” Dave’s Garden > Guides.
Available @ http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40919/#b
“Hibiscus moscheutos (crimson-eyed rosemallow).” National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) > Taxonomy.
Available @ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?lin=s&p=has_linkout&id=241598
“Hibiscus moscheutos L.” Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) > Report.
Available @ http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=21612
“Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Luna Red.’” Missouri Botanical Garden > Plant Finder.
Available @ http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b492
“Hibiscus moscheutos (Southern Belle Group).” Missouri Botanical Garden > Gardens & Gardening > Your Garden > Plant Finder.
Available @ http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e950
Kirkegaard, John. A Practical Handbook of Trees, Shrubs, Vines and Herbaceous Perennials. Boston MA: The Bullard Co., 1912.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/practicalhandbo00kirk/
Knox, Gary W., and Rick Schoellhorn. “Hardy Hibiscus for Florida Landscapes.” University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Extension/Electronic Data Information Source (EDIS). October 2005. Last reviewed February 2014.
Available @ http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep245
Lounsberry, Alice. A Guide to the Wild Flowers. With sixty-four coloured and one hundred black-and-white plates and fifty-four diagrams. New York NY: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1899.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://archive.org/details/guidetowildflowe00lounrich
Marriner, Derdriu. "Edible Scarlet Rose Mallow (Hibiscus coccineus) Attracts Pollinators." Earth and Space News. Sunday, July 3, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/07/edible-scarlet-rose-mallow-hibiscus.html
Marriner, Derdriu. "Scarlet Rose Mallow (Hibiscus coccineus) Has Showy Scarlet Flowers." Earth and Space News. Saturday, July 2, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/07/scarlet-rose-mallow-hibiscus-coccineus.html
McGroarty, Mike. “The One Plant That Could Change Your Life Forever.” Mike’s Backyard Nursery > Gardening. May 20, 2015.
Available @ http://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2013/08/the-one-plant-that-could-change-your-life-forever/
New York Botanical Garden. Addisonia: Colored Illustrations and Popular Descriptions of Plants. Vol. 3. New York NY: New York Botanical Garden, 1918.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4506051
Reeves, Sonja L. “Hibiscus moscheutos.” US Forest Service > Database > Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) > Plants > Forb. 2008.
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/hibmos/all.html
“RHS AGM Listing December 2015 (Ornamentals).” Royal Horticultural Society > Plants > PDFs ? Award of Garden Merit Lists.
Available @ https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals
Richey, Holli. “Eat your rose of Sharon, hibiscus, hollyhocks.” Athens Banner-Herald > Urban Forager. July 25, 2010.
Available @ http://onlineathens.com/stories/072510/liv_682592937.shtml#.V9m_cvkrLcs
Russ, Karen. “Hibiscus.” Clemson University > Cooperative Extension > Home & Garden Information Center (HGIC) > Landscape, Garden & Indoor Plants > Landscape Plants & Lawns > Flowers. December 2004. Last updated September 2007.
Available @ http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/flowers/hgic1179.html
Sargeaunt, John. The Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil. New York NY: Longmans Green and Co.; Oxford, UK: B.H. Blackwell, 1920.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/treesshrubsplant00sargrich
Snow, Allison A.; Timothy P. Spira; Hong Liu. “Effects of sequential pollination on the success of ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ pollen donors in Hibiscus moscheutos (Malvaceae).” American Journal of Botany, vol. 87, no. 11 (November 2000): 1656-1659.
Available @ http://www.amjbot.org/content/87/11/1656.full
“Swamp Rose-mallow.” Canada Species at Risk Public Registry > Species List. Last modified Sept. 9, 2016.
Available @ http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/species/speciesDetails_e.cfm?sid=266
“Swamp Rose Mallow Hibiscus moscheutos.” Illinois Wildflowers > Wetland Wildflowers.
Available @ http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/sw_rsmallow.htm
van Houtte, Louis. Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l’Europe, Journal Général d’Horticulture. Gand, Belgium: Louis van Houtte, 1857.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27803588


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