Hibiscus
2. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Rose of China, China Rose, Shoe Black Plant.
The species of hibiscus which seems to have the greatest number of variants is Hibiscus rosa sinensis. These plants appear to have innumerable variations in colour and shape in both single and double forms, due to the interest in these plants by early hibiscus fanciers who hybridised Hibiscus rosa-sinensis with other compatible species. Ross Gast in his Genetic History of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis traces the early movement of these plants and the hybridisation with other species which has led to the abundance of cultivars available today. Special variations were perpetuated by the taking of cuttings.
Although generally considered to be native to continental tropical Asia, the species is unknown in the wild and its area of origin is conjectural. Gast however believes it to be from India due to the fact that Polynesian people supposed to have originated in India may have brought the species to China and the Pacific in the centuries of their Eastern migrations.
Because it reached its highest development as an ornamental plant in China, and as most early cultivars were collected there and shipped to Europe, the species was given its name rosa-sinensis or Rose of China (China Rose). It is interesting to note that the earliest forms collected were of the double form, these were found growing around ancient temples and palaces in China, and the single form was not connected with the species for some considerable time.
A double red form of H. rosa-sinensis was illustrated and described by Van Reede in 1678, and a double red and other forms were introduced to England by Philip Miller, curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden, London as early as 1731, under the name of H. javanica, indicating them to be natives of Java. Cook and other Pacific explorers found the double red form cultivated in several island groups. This form is still common in all parts of the world where hibiscus are grown. The
Rose of China, China Rose, Shoe Black Plant.
The species of hibiscus which seems to have the greatest number of variants is Hibiscus rosa sinensis. These plants appear to have innumerable variations in colour and shape in both single and double forms, due to the interest in these plants by early hibiscus fanciers who hybridised Hibiscus rosa-sinensis with other compatible species. Ross Gast in his Genetic History of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis traces the early movement of these plants and the hybridisation with other species which has led to the abundance of cultivars available today. Special variations were perpetuated by the taking of cuttings.
Although generally considered to be native to continental tropical Asia, the species is unknown in the wild and its area of origin is conjectural. Gast however believes it to be from India due to the fact that Polynesian people supposed to have originated in India may have brought the species to China and the Pacific in the centuries of their Eastern migrations.
Because it reached its highest development as an ornamental plant in China, and as most early cultivars were collected there and shipped to Europe, the species was given its name rosa-sinensis or Rose of China (China Rose). It is interesting to note that the earliest forms collected were of the double form, these were found growing around ancient temples and palaces in China, and the single form was not connected with the species for some considerable time.
A double red form of H. rosa-sinensis was illustrated and described by Van Reede in 1678, and a double red and other forms were introduced to England by Philip Miller, curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden, London as early as 1731, under the name of H. javanica, indicating them to be natives of Java. Cook and other Pacific explorers found the double red form cultivated in several island groups. This form is still common in all parts of the world where hibiscus are grown. The