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Hibiscus

Hibiscus

|- | style="text-align:center;" | 200px
bright pink hibiscus |- style="text-align:center;" ! style="background: lightgreen;" | Scientific classification |- style="text-align:center;" |

|- valign=top |Kingdom:||Plantae |- valign=top |Division:||Magnoliophyta |- valign=top |Class:||Magnoliopsida |- valign=top |Order:||Malvales |- valign=top |Family:||Malvaceae |- valign=top |Genus:||Hibiscus |} |- style="text-align:center; background:lightgreen;" !Species |- | See text |}

Hibiscus
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Hibiscus

Hibiscus or rosemallow is a large genus (some 200 species) of flowering plants in the Family Malvaceae.

Many of these species are grown for their showy flowers and many are used as landscape shrubs. Hibiscus syriacus (Mugunghwa or "Rose of Sharon") is the national flower of South Korea, while Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Bunga Raya or "Chinese hibiscus") is the national flower of Malaysia. The ma‘o hau hele (Hibiscus brackenridgei) is the state flower of Hawai‘i.

In temperate zones, probably the most commonly grown ornamental species is Hibiscus syriacus, the common garden hibiscus, also known in some areas as the "Rose of Althea" or "Rose of Sharon" (but not to be confused with the unrelated Hypericum calycinum, also called the "Rose of Sharon"). In tropical and subtropical areas, the Chinese hibiscus (H. rosa-sinensis), with its many showy hybrids, is the most popular ornamental and landscape hibiscus.

Contents

Species

about 200, including:


Economic uses

One species of Hibiscus, known as Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), is extensively used in paper making.

Medicinal uses

Extracts of some hibiscus species are claimed to have health benefits, including prevention of:

The studies that yielded these results are debated. An unspecified hibiscus plant is used to make a herbal tea, typically blended with rosehip.

Miscellaneous

The City of Hibiscus is an alias for the city of Chengdu in China.

Hibiscus flower
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Hibiscus flower
Last updated: 02-08-2005 11:13:31
Last updated: 03-18-2005 11:16:12