This description provides characteristics that may be relevant to fire ecology, and is not meant for identification. Keys for identification are available (for example, [7,9,14,28,30,35,39,40]).
Crimsoneyed rosemallow is a shrubby, herbaceous perennial forb. It produces few to many stems (3-8 feet (1-2.5 m) tall) each year from a large, woody rootstock. Leaves are ovate to lanceolate, serrate, and 3 to 8.7 inches (8-22 cm) long. The leaves can be unlobed or with 2 lateral lobes. Flowers are borne on upper leaf axils and are ephemeral. Large plants can produce up to 20 to 30 open flowers daily at the peak of the blooming season. The fruit is a capsule [9,15,26,30,35] bearing hard-coated seeds less than 3 mm in diameter [5]. Crimsoneyed rosemallow has a short underground caudex with large storage roots attached [2,14] (see photo at right).
Common rosemallow is glabrous on the upper leaf surface and has glabrous capsules, while wooly rosemallow is pubescent on both leaf surfaces and has hirsute capsules [15]. Wooly rosemallow is rhizomatous in California [6].
Crimsoneyed rosemallow is native, occurring from Ontario, Wisconsin, and New York south to the Gulf of Mexico. Occurrences extend west to New Mexico, with disjunct populations in Utah and California [4,14,15,20,39]. NatureServe provides a distributional map of crimsoneyed rosemallow and its subspecies. The general distribution of subspecies of Hibiscus moscheutos is as follows:
Wooly rosemallow occurs from Illinois and Indiana south to New Mexico and Florida, with disjunct populations in California [20]. It is reported from one locality in Chihuahua, Mexico [4].
Common rosemallow occurs from Ontario south to Louisiana and Florida and from Kansas south to Texas, with disjunct populations in Utah [20].
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:Crimsoneyed rosemallow is a shrubby, herbaceous perennial forb. It produces few to many stems (3-8 feet (1-2.5 m) tall) each year from a large, woody rootstock. Leaves are ovate to lanceolate, serrate, and 3 to 8.7 inches (8-22 cm) long. The leaves can be unlobed or with 2 lateral lobes. Flowers are borne on upper leaf axils and are ephemeral. Large plants can produce up to 20 to 30 open flowers daily at the peak of the blooming season. The fruit is a capsule [9,15,26,30,35] bearing hard-coated seeds less than 3 mm in diameter [5]. Crimsoneyed rosemallow has a short underground caudex with large storage roots attached [2,14] (see photo at right).
Common rosemallow is glabrous on the upper leaf surface and has glabrous capsules, while wooly rosemallow is pubescent on both leaf surfaces and has hirsute capsules [15]. Wooly rosemallow is rhizomatous in California [6].
Hibiscus moscheutos, the rose mallow, swamp rose-mallow,[2] crimsoneyed rosemallow,[3] or eastern rosemallow,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is a cold-hardy perennial wetland plant that can grow in large colonies. The hirsute leaves are of variable morphology, but are commonly deltoidal in shape with up to three lobes. It is found in wetlands and along the riverine systems of the eastern United States from Texas to the Atlantic states, its territory extending northward to southern Ontario.
Numerous forms exist in nature. Petal colors range from pure white to deep rose, and most have an eye of deep maroon. Taxonomic consensus is lacking for the nomenclature of the multiple subspecies. The flowers are borne apically, whereas the related Hibiscus laevis carries bud and bloom along the stem.
It is a larval host for the common checkered skipper, the gray hairstreak, the Io moth, and the pearly wood nymph.[4]
This is a popular garden plant. It can be propagated by seed, or by crown divisions during winter dormancy, and some success can be achieved by hard-wood stem cuttings. Numerous hybrids of the native North American Hibiscus species have been released by the commercial nursery trade. In cultivation the species or the hybrids can be used in bog gardens or other water features. They are attractive and have wildlife value for nectar-feeders and birds.
Many cold-hardy hibiscus cultivars are hybrids of H. moscheutos, H. coccineus, H. laevis, H. militaris, H. grandiflorus, H. dasycalyx, H. mutabilis. With indeterminate genetic contributions from each parent species.[5] Hibiscus breeders do not preclude the possibility of self-pollination. However, recent research has shown that artificial pollination just after the flower has opened using a high pollen load will ensure that most of the resulting seeds are from the selected pollen parent. Early hibiscus breeders were likely aware of this and used it to their advantage.[6]
In Canada this plant is listed as a species of special concern under the Species at Risk Act.[2][7]
Flower bud
Fruit and seeds - MHNT
White flower
Maroon flower
Hibiscus moscheutos, the rose mallow, swamp rose-mallow, crimsoneyed rosemallow, or eastern rosemallow, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is a cold-hardy perennial wetland plant that can grow in large colonies. The hirsute leaves are of variable morphology, but are commonly deltoidal in shape with up to three lobes. It is found in wetlands and along the riverine systems of the eastern United States from Texas to the Atlantic states, its territory extending northward to southern Ontario.
Numerous forms exist in nature. Petal colors range from pure white to deep rose, and most have an eye of deep maroon. Taxonomic consensus is lacking for the nomenclature of the multiple subspecies. The flowers are borne apically, whereas the related Hibiscus laevis carries bud and bloom along the stem.
