Question About Leaf Shape

last year, another DGer sent me seeds of "Black Dragon". I planted them, but when they leafed out, they had sort of a maple leaf shape, they died back in the fall - I assume it's an annual hibiscus. this year, however, when they returned (not sure if from root or by seed) the leaf look an awful lot like..erm... the leaves of a certain illegal herb. Only the first few leaves at the bottom are the familiar oval shape, but the rest of the 6ft + plant has these other leaves. Whats going on with my plant??

Cue Chik there is only one "Black Dragon" hibiscus, and it is a Tropical cultivar. It has typical big round green tropical hibiscus leaves and would not likely set seed to be shared. I grow a lot of hardy hibiscus and am currently growing 5 specialties......hibiscus Red Shield, Maple Sugar, Haight Ashbury, Panama Bronze and Panama Red. These varieties all have darker leaves in the red to purple range that look like maple, or marijuana leaves. Red Star of Texas and White Star of Texas hardy hibiscus also have marijuana shaped leaves.

Sounds like your plant is doing fine, it was just mis-identified to you by the giver of the seeds and may be in fact, one of the plants I listed above.

I kinda figured it wasnt true to seeed, but it did have a gorgeous burgundy bloom last year, just wasnt sure how it went from maple leafed to marijuana leafed lol... scary.

thanks for the info tho, iys about ready to bloom again, so will post a pic when it does :)

not sure if you can see the leaves in this hardy hibiscus

yup, I can see them. mine kinda look like that.