Re: Hibiscus

At 05:45 PM 8/11/99 +0200, you wrote:
>Dear members,
>
>Which are the morphological differences between Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
>and H. syriacus? I understand the latter is much hardier, but how can I
>tell one from the other when not in flower?
>Many thanks.
>
>Albert
>
Dear Albert, the leaves are quite different. H. rosa-sinensis has polished,
intense green leaves that in tropical areas are evergreen. They can reach up
to 15cm (6"). H. syriacus has deciduos, matt green, often 3 lobed, generally
smaller  leaves (in my experience, they reach about 10cm). I seem to
remember they have a sort of tuft beneath, that gives  a greyish hue to the
green,  but I can't check now. 
Also, the growth habit is different, as syriacus tends to be stiffer than
rosa-sin, which generally branches more. In syriacus the bark of old
specimens tends to be vertically fissured, whereas rosa-sin is smoother. 
In Italy H. syriacus is  quite a common plant, too often trained like a
tree, with named vars grafted very high (at 1,80 m, 6') on the  seed-raised
species.  Personally I detest this use, because syriacus, as I said, has
this stiff habit, specially on young shoots,  and to retain the tree shape
they are stooled hard every year encouraging the almost vertical growth of
new shoots. On the other hand, an old plant of a good var., like Blue Bird,
whith an  open structure, when covered with flowers has its appeal and adds
a lot to the late summer garden. Rosa-sin is a different thing, showyer and
more exuberant, they are among the most beautiful flowering plants for the
tropical garden. A tour  of the Tropical Hibiscus society's website is a
real treat, but I can't give you the address because something strange
happened to my bookmarks file (we are in the move of renovating all
computers in this office, and too many consultants are going around!).
However, I am sure someone else in this list has the address and will let
you know!
Hope this helps,
Alessandra
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