Sunday, August 20, 2023

Hibiscus

I'm a fan of Hibiscus flowers. They're another tropical plant like Bougainvillea. Innovation Place had some quite large ones in giant pots that were taken inside in the winter. My sister (thanks Clare) gave me a plant when we moved to Victoria. Despite a running battle with a chronic infestation (spider mites?) it manages to survive and flowers fairly often.

The flowers open in the morning, and go quite rapidly (for a plant) from bud to large flower. There's a time lapse on the Wikipedia page. Here's one in the process of opening.

Hibiscus flower

I was interested to see they are related to mallows. Which wouldn't mean anything to me, except that I just (tentatively) identified several flowers along the railway tracks as kinds of mallows.

Hibiscus flower

Hibiscus flower

Here's one more fully open.

Hibiscus flower

The flowers only last one day. After that they neatly roll themselves up and drop off.

Hibiscus

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