Georgia Gardening: Wild Hibiscus militaris Near Fitzgerald Georgia, 1 by Michael_Ronayne

Michael_Ronayne wrote:

GAgirl1066 wrote:Number two

Correction Start

In my original post I identified a third Style Color Pattern as follows.

Hibiscus aculeatus Style Color Patterns
3. Burgundy stigma with light-yellow pollen and anthers.

In reviewing the pictures, I realized that the plant with third color pattern is Abelmoschus (Hibiscus) manihot and not Hibiscus aculeatus. Sometime this plant is incorrectly identified on the Internet as Hibiscus aculeatus. At one time Abelmoschu manihot was known as Hibiscus manihot. My apologies for not catching this error sooner.

Correction Stop

Sometimes we miss the obvious, as I failed to note the significance of the Hibiscus aculeatus photograph you posted. Note the light-yellow color of the stigma at the tip of the style, with just a hint of burgundy colored pollen on the anthers.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=9159763

The announcement of the death of my last Hibiscus aculeatus was premature. After my June 11, 2012 post, I discovered that one additional Hibiscus aculeatus had survived the construction about my home. I transplanted the Hibiscus to a 10” grower’s pot which was placed in a cement mixing tub with 4” to 5” of standing water, with other water loving Hibiscus. On September 3, 2012 the Hibiscus aculeatus bloomed and successfully set seeds after being hand pollinate with its own pollen. In the folowing URL note the burgundy color of the stigma and pollen laden anthers, at the tip and along the length of the style; the photograph is also attached below.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=9304786

Now review the pictures in the PlantFiles and note the colors of the structures attached to the style. Note that the fourth picture is Abelmoschu manihot.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/341633/

Now review the Hibiscus aculeatus pictures on the Internet:

http://images.google.com/search?num=100&tbm=isch&q=Hibiscus ...

With your photograph, my photograph, the photographs in PlantFiles and the Internet, two color patterns are emerging for the reproduction structures of Hibiscus aculeatus.

Hibiscus aculeatus Style Color Patterns
1. Burgundy stigma with burgundy pollen and anthers.
2. Light-yellow stigma with burgundy pollen and anthers.

For color pattern #2 the petals are distinctly more yellow. For color pattern #1 the petals are white. I became interested in Hibiscus aculeatus because of it reported yellow petal color and limited cold tolerance. I was very disappointed when my Hibiscus aculeatus produced white flowers but I am now beginning to understand why. I believe there is a very real possibility of hybridizing Hibiscus aculeatus with the ornamental African Hibiscus radiatus and Hibiscus acetosella species to produce more cold tolerant hybrids.

Please keep me update on the plant hunt.

Mike
p.s. At some point we should move this discussion to the Hibiscus Forum.

This message was edited Oct 17, 2012 12:43 PM