Hibiscus tiliaceus

H. tiliaceus is a small evergreen tree, 4-10 m tall, with a broad crown of widely spreading or crooked branches, or a shrub with many prostrate branches forming dense thickets. Trees have smooth grey or light brown bark with fibrous inner bark, on a short crooked trunk to 15 cm in diameter. Twigs are stout, with rings at nodes, becoming brown and hairless. Young twigs, leafstalks, lower leaf surfaces, calyx and seed capsules densely covered with minute whitish grey, star-shaped hairs. Leaves are alternate, petioles 5-13 cm, with two large short-pointed whitish hairy basal scales (stipules) 2.5-4 cm long, shedding early and leaving a ring scar. Leaf blades 10-18 cm long and broad, sometimes larger, abruptly short- or long-pointed at apex and heart-shaped at base, rarely wavy toothed on edges, slightly thickened and leathery, shiny yellow-green and hairless on upper surface, lower surface with three narrow glands near base of main veins. Flower clusters (panicles) at or near ends of twigs, branching. Flowers many, few in each cluster, each with whitish hairy stalk 2-5 cm and grey-green hairy basal cup (involucre) 2 cm long, usually with 9-10 narrow pointed lobes. Calyx 2.5-3 cm long, grey-green, hairy, tubular with five narrow long-pointed lobes. Petals five, yellow, usually with dark red spot at base inside, 6-9 cm long, rounded but broader on one side, with tiny star-shaped hairs on outer surface, united at base. Stamens numerous on column, about 5 cm long, united with corolla at base. Pistil has densely hairy, conical five-celled ovary, long slender style and five broad stigmas. Flowers open and close on the same day, the petals withering and turning to orange and later to red. Seed capsules elliptical, 2.5-3 cm long, long-pointed, grey-green hairy, splitting into five parts and breaking open the calyx and involucre which remains attached. Seeds, three from each cell, brownish black, 3-5 mm long, hairless. (Adapted from Little and Skolmen, 1989).