Got a Question (Hibiscus)
Submitted by tbowersock on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 19:02
I am confused 
. I have a hibiscus tree and my mom says it is a Rose of Sharon. Then I was looking at Rose Mallow which looks like my other hibiscus that I have. Are these all seperate plants or just one with lots of names? Please help me straighten my brain, Thank you!
. I have a hibiscus tree and my mom says it is a Rose of Sharon. Then I was looking at Rose Mallow which looks like my other hibiscus that I have. Are these all seperate plants or just one with lots of names? Please help me straighten my brain, Thank you!
Hibiscus IDs
It can be a bit confusing - just remember many plants are called by the same common names.
All are of these are from the family Malvaceae
Rose of Sharon or Althea is Genus: Hibiscus - Species: syriacus
Hibiscus Bush or Aibika, Sweet Hibiscus, Edible Hibiscus, Palmate-leaved Hibiscus, Sunset Muskmallow, Sunset Hibiscus is Genus: Abelmoschus - Species: manihot
Hardy Hibiscus, Rose Mallow, Swamp Mallow is Genus: Hibiscus - Species: moscheutos
Marsh Mallow, Marshmallow is Genus: Althaea - Species: officinalis
It's like a family tree if you will - All the hibiscus are Malvacea, but the first & second names differ just like siblings or cousins in a family
DizzyD %-}
Seeds for SASBE
Rose Mallow, Pavonia hastata
This is a type of Hibiscus. This particular species, though, has leaves that are very different to those of most Hibiscus. As Susan pointed out, there's even a difference in leaf shape between regular Hibiscus, and Tropical Hibiscus. The bloom of Rosemallow fits right in with the colors and shape of the typical Hibiscus, only much smaller. Hope this helps.
maw
Annette Shelton/ mawnature/ maw
Let's Make a Trade!
Ok lets see if I have it
Sort of!
I think that by and large, the bloom sizes are similar. Some of the tropical ones may be larger. The other difference and the one that is probably the biggest and most important is the zone for which they are hardy. Tropical hibiscus are typically not hardy below zone 9. I have some that I believe came back from last year. I'll have to see whether that's the case, though. The hardy ones will come back year after year. The other thing I notice with my ROS is that, at least here in zone 8, that one leafs out before my other stuff does. It's also the first to go dormant. i think that's because the person who sent it to me lives in zones 5-6. The going dormant first makes sense, but I can't figure out why it leafs out before everything else.
Susan, the Texas Yankee, the Texas Rangerette and the Assistant Administrator
SKBeal's Snazzy Tr
Rose of Sharon
Rose of Sharon is a type of hibiscus. So is Rose Mallow. Rose of Sharon is known as Hibiscus Syriacus. There are many different varieties of hibiscus. The ones with leaves that are shaped sort of like maple leaves and aren't super dark green or somewhat shiney are hardy forms of hibiscus. The varieties with darker green leaves that are more uniform in shape are probably tropical hibiscus like this one.
Tropical Double Red Hibiscus: Tropical Double Red Hibiscus was planted from seeds. I thought it wouldn't be hardy to my zone, but I had planted some tropical seeds in the same pot as the hardy hibiscus seeds I planted last spring (2007) and not long after the hardy hibiscus started to
There are probably hundreds of varieties of hibiscus. I think the proper way to explain it is that the genus may be hibiscus, but the species is something else.
Susan, the Texas Yankee, the Texas Rangerette and the Assistant Administrator
SKBeal's Snazzy Tr