Native rosella | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Genus: | Hibiscus |
Species: | H. heterophyllus
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Binomial name | |
Hibiscus heterophyllus |
Hibiscus heterophyllus, commonly known as native rosella or toilet paper bush, [2] is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It a shrub or small tree with white, pale pink or yellow flowers with a dark red centre and grows in New South Wales and Queensland.
Hibiscus heterophyllus is a shrub or small tree with more or less smooth, prickly stems. The lower leaves are egg-shaped or with 3-5 lobes, upper leaves are narrowly oval shaped to narrowly lance shaped and 5–18 cm (2.0–7.1 in) long. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils, calyx lobes lance-shaped, 20–35 mm (0.79–1.38 in) long with a dense covering of rusty-coloured star shaped, short, matted hairs. The flower corolla 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) long, pale pink, white or yellow with a dark red centre. The fruit is 20 mm (0.79 in) long and covered with straw-coloured short, soft, upright hairs. Flowering occurs from spring to summer. [2] [3]
Hibiscus heterophyllus was first formally described in 1805 by Étienne Pierre Ventenat and the description was published in Jardin de la Malmaison. [4] [5] The specific epithet (heterophyllus) means "different" and "leaved" with reference to having varying shaped leaves. [3] [6] Dtharang-gange is recorded as an Aboriginal name for the plant, from New South Wales. [7]
This species is usually found in open forest, rainforest or nearby, from north-east Queensland to the south coast of New South Wales. [2]