The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Trees and Shrubs => Topic started by: John J on October 05, 2011, 07:20:06 AM
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My H. mutabilis has begun its autumn flowering phase. I have 2 trees, obtained from different sources, and while the flowers on this one open pure white, before blushing pink and ending up deep red as they shrivel and fall in the evening, the other misses the first stage and opens pink. The first 2 photos were taken this morning, both on the same tree, the 3rd was taken a few years ago.
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John, Thanks very much for introducing this splendid plant to the forum (with such characteristic pictures). It's far less widely known than it deserves to be, both beautiful and fascinating. Helena and I have just been drooling over your photos, as she says "As I keep saying we must get one... look at that... incredible... gorgeous."
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Thanks, Alisdair. The tree was in flower during the AGM in 2009 and I picked a few on one of the days as I was on my way out to meet the group at the hotel. The initial reaction from several people was that they were artificial. This particular tree is surprisingly tolerant when it comes to water, or lack of, it is not irrigated and only gets intermittent water if something else in the vicinity looks a bit thirsty.
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I'm not sure that my tree, which bears single flowers, is a Hibiscus mutabilis. All the others that I've seen are double. Here is a photo with a fresh and a spent flower.
Any opinions?
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Cali, I believe your plant is a H. mutabilis. The leaves are the same and the flower behaves in the same way, apart from being single. I have never seen a single variety but they do exist.
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Cali, The double form used to be described as Hibiscus mutabilis forma plenus, with the single form as the type species, but they're now all reckoned as in the same species. Very interesting to see your picture - I'd never seen the single form.
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Thank you both. I've never been sure since I bought it 20 or so years ago at a plant sale as something else altogether and it took years to flower.
Cali
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It is said to be native to south east China and the double form given the name "forma plena" which presumably means their are many clones of this form implying (perhaps) that the double is fertile and produces double seedlings?
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My tree certainly produces an abundence of seeds but I've never been tempted to try germinating them before. Now, curiosity aroused, I have an incentive to do so. I'll let you know what happens, if anything.
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I sowed some seeds given to me by a friend thinking they were H. mutabilis, but in fact they have turned out to be H. paramutabilis I think. Anyway they germinated and transplanted very easily and flower quite well. The unplanted ones came through this summer in pots though my nursery watering system kept letting me down. They make rather inelegant bushes so I'm trying a mass planting.
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Have you pictures, Fleur?
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I looked it up in the RHS Plant Index and it says it's similar to H. mutabilis but "epical". Since I'm botanically illiterate, and the kind of "epic" I know about doesn't seem relevant, I'll ask for help in translation....
Yes, do you have a photo, Fleur? Because I bought a small supposed mutabilis from the nursery in Ag.Dimitrios when we went there together ages ago. It has since grown well but is a different hibiscus, I have no idea what. It does flower in the autumn, so maybe it ii is the epical kind.
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Epical means having an apparent second calyx, an outer ring of sepals or bracts around the true calyx: but a photo would be much more helpful!
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Thank you Alisdair--I knew you'd come through.
My mystery autumn-flowering hibiscus has not flowered yet (it usually flowers later than the single mutabilis but this year I see no sign of buds... maybe because of the unusually dry summer and autumn) so I can't check whether it's epical or not.
Here are photos of the two together, and a close-p of the mystery. Fleur, does it look like yours?
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I can only post a photo taken just now of the leaves and buds from one of my plants. Below are some photos from Traude Gotsis of single Hibiscus which she calls mutabilis and she was the one who kindly gave me the seeds.
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Our H mutabilis has begun to blossom again as we move into autumn. I find them hard to resist when they open a virginal white before blushing so coquettishly as the day wears on.
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One of our trees demonstrating how it came by its specific name.
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Perfect illustration, John!
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A sad day as our Hibiscus mutabilis has suddenly and inexplicably died. Fortunately several years ago we took a cutting that is now a small tree so we are waiting with bated breath to see if it will perform as well as its parent.
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It seems that we can breath again. The child of our original tree appears to have come of age and is ready to take over.
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The patron saint of our village is the Apostle Luke and by tradition olive picking does not start until after his name day. That occurred on 18 Oct so we are now well into collecting our crop. This year it has been a bit of a mixed blessing as just as we began picking the weather broke and we got the first rains of the season. Fortunately not continuous rain but short, sharp bursts. This hindered the picking but brought the temperature down as well as providing much needed relief to the rest of the garden. The photos show one of the results of this weather change as our Hibiscus mutabilis is bursting into bloom.