2. Hibiscus lasiocarpos Cav. (rose mallow, hairy rose mallow)

H. moscheutos L. ssp. lasiocarpos (Cav.) O.J. Blanch.

H. moscheutos var. occidentalis Torr.

Pl. 452 e–g; Map 2052

Plants perennial herbs, sometimes slightly woody at the base. Stems 80–200 cm long, erect or ascending, densely pubescent with mostly stellate hairs, less commonly glabrous or nearly so. Leaf blades 4–20 cm long, narrowly lanceolate to broadly ovate in outline, unlobed or less commonly shallowly 3-lobed at the base, the margins finely to coarsely scalloped or bluntly toothed, the upper surface moderately to densely pubescent with stellate hairs, sometimes becoming glabrous or nearly so with age, the undersurface densely pubescent with stellate hairs. Stipules shed during leaf development. Bractlets subtending the calyx 8–12(–14), 18–35 mm long, densely pubescent with stellate hairs and usually also with simple or fasciculate hairs along the margin. Calyces 15–40 mm long at flowering, not becoming enlarged or inflated at fruiting, finely pubescent with stellate hairs, especially along the veins. Petals 6.5–12.0 cm long, white or less commonly pink, sometimes with dark reddish purple bases. Fruits 1.5–3.2 cm long, ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, densely pubescent with stellate hairs and also with longer simple or fasciculate hairs, especially along the margins of the valves. Seeds 18–35 per locule, 2.5–3.0 mm long, obovoid to nearly globose, the surface minutely pebbled or roughened and with a faint pattern of fine parallel ridges, orangish brown to black, glabrous. 2n=38. July–October.

Scattered, mostly south of the Missouri River (eastern U.S. west to Missouri and Texas; disjunct in New Mexico and California; Mexico). Openings of bottomland forests, swamps, banks of rivers, and margins of ponds, lakes, sinkhole ponds, and sloughs, sometimes in shallow water; also ditches and wet roadsides.

Some authors prefer to combine H. lasiocarpos with the closely related H. moscheutos L. or to treat it as var. occidentalis or ssp. lasiocarpos of that species. True H. moscheutos occurs only to the east of Missouri and differs from H. lasiocarpos in its glabrous fruits, bractlets without longer spreading hairs along the margins, and more glabrous upper leaf surfaces. For a discussion of hybrids with H. laevis, see the treatment of that species.

Hibiscus lasiocarpos frequently forms large colonies. Its seeds are eaten by wildlife, particularly birds.