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].
