Hibiscus are a beautiful species of flowers that come from a very big family. You may be surprised to learn that cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is actually a relative of hibiscus. Many other relatives are around us as well.
Perhaps you’ve sat under the shade of a Norfolk Island hibiscus (Lagunaria patersonia) and discovered how its spine-filled seedpods earned its alias ‘cow itch tree’. Or maybe you’ve eaten okra or rosella.
The Hibiscus genus includes more than 200 species from warm areas around the world. Most species are easily grown, but difficult to find.
Many wild hibiscus are restricted to isolated islands where they are critically endangered. But it’s the tropical or Chinese hibiscus (H. rosa-sinensis), often called Hawaiian hibiscus, which is the most familiar and widely grown.
It has been cultivated for so long that its origins, thought to be China or the Indian Ocean region, remain obscure.
The old-fashioned cultivars are tough and long-lived, and can survive years of neglect. A red-flowered ‘Ormiston’ hibiscus, believed to be more than a century old, is growing in the garden of a Carmelite monastery near Brisbane.