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Published In: Auctarium ad Synopsim Methodicam Stirpium Horti Reg. Taurinensis 31. 1773. (Auct. Syn.) Name publication detail
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/25/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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1. Hibiscus laevis All. (rose mallow, halberd-leaved rose mallow)

H. militaris Cav.

Pl. 452 a–d; Map 2051

Plants perennial herbs, sometimes slightly woody at the base. Stems 80–200 cm long, erect or ascending, glabrous, often somewhat glaucous. Leaf blades 4–20 cm long, ovate or less commonly elliptic-lanceolate in outline, shallowly to deeply 3-lobed (hastate) at the base, less commonly unlobed, the margins relatively finely and sharply toothed, the upper surface glabrous, the undersurface glabrous or sparsely pubescent with stellate hairs along main veins. Stipules shed during leaf development. Bractlets subtending the calyx 8–12(–15), 12–25 mm long, glabrous or pubescent with unbranched or fasciculate hairs along the margins. Calyces 25–35 mm long at flowering, becoming slightly enlarged to 40 mm and slightly inflated at fruiting, glabrous or sparsely and finely pubescent with stellate hairs along the veins. Petals 6–8 cm long, white or more commonly pink, usually with dark reddish purple bases. Fruits 2.2–3.2 cm long, ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, glabrous except for dense simple and fasciculate hairs along the inner side of the margins of the valves (visible after dehiscence). Seeds 12–18 per locule, 3.2–3.8 mm long, broadly kidney-shaped to nearly globose, the surface densely covered with short stiff orangish brown hairs, dark brown. 2n=38. July–October.

Scattered, mostly outside the Ozark Division (eastern U.S. west to Nebraska and Texas). Openings of bottomland forests, swamps, banks of streams and rivers, and margins of ponds, lakes, sinkhole ponds, and sloughs, sometimes in shallow water; also ditches and wet roadsides.

Hibiscus laevis frequently forms large colonies. Its seeds are eaten by wildlife, particularly birds. Although this species and H. lasiocarpos are sometimes found growing together, especially in disturbed habitats like roadside ditches, hybridization between them is rare and the hybrids (of intermediate general morphology) produce shrunken abortive seeds. O. J. Blanchard (1976), who examined more than 3,000 herbarium specimens from throughout the provenance of these species and conducted extensive field work, located only 8 specimens rangewide representing putative hybrid plants. From Missouri, he located only a single historical collection from waste ground along a railroad in Jasper County.

 


 

 
 
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