Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/121

Hibiscus.] 

1. H. trionum, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 697.—A simple or branched annual or biennial 1–2 ft. high, scabrous-pubescent or hispid; branches erect or spreading. Leaves very variable, 1–3 in. long, lower orbicular-cordate with 3–5 shallow lobes, middle and upper deeply 3–5-lobed or -partite; segments oblong or lanceolate, coarsely toothed or incised. Flowers on short axillary peduncles, large, 1–1½ in. diam., pale-yellow with a dark-brown centre. Bracteoles 7–12, narrow-linear, hispid. Calyx membranous, inflated, with numerous raised hispid veins, shortly 5-lobed. Capsule ovoid-globose, hirsute, enclosed in the bladdery calyx. Seeds glabrous.—''Bot. Mag. t. 209; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 28; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 31; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 210; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 78. H. vesicarius, ''Cav. Diss.'' iii. 171, t. 64, f. 2; ''A. Cunn. Precur. n. 607; Raoul, Choix de Plantes,'' 48.

2. H. diversifolius, ''Jacq. Ic. Plant. Rar.'' t. 551.—A tall stout and rigid perennial 3–6 ft. high, often woody at the base; branches, petioles, and nerves of the leaves covered with short conical prickles. Leaves on stout petioles 2–3 in. long; blade 2–4 in., broadly cordate or nearly orbicular, irregularly toothed, angular or slightly 3–5-lobed, scabrous. Flowers in terminal racemes, large, handsome, 2–3 in. diam., pale-yellow with a dark centre. Pedicels short; bracts lanceolate or 3-fid. Bracteoles 10, linear. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, bristly. Capsule ovoid, acuminate, densely hispid.—''Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 213; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. (1871) 163; Students' Fl.'' 73.





Trees or shrubs, rarely herbs. Leaves alternate, seldom opposite, simple, entire or toothed or lobed. Stipules usually present, often caducous. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual, axillary or terminal, usually cymose. Sepals 3–5, free or connate, generally valvate. Petals the same number as the sepals or fewer, rarely wanting, imbricate or valvate, entire cut or multifid.