云南芙蓉 yun nan fu rong

Fioria yunnanensis (S. Y. Hu) Abedin.

Herbs perennial, subshrublike, to 2.1 m tall, entire plant stellate tomentose. Branchlets slender, terete. Stipules short, filiform, caducous; petiole 2-6 cm; leaf blade cordate, ovate, or orbicular, sometimes obscurely 3-lobed, 6-10 × 2.5-9 cm, basal veins 5-7, base cordate, margin sparsely serrate, apex obtuse or acuminate; blades on distal part of stem smaller, base rounded, apex acuminate. Flowers solitary or in cymes, axillary on twig tips. Pedicel 6-28 mm. Epicalyx lobes 8-10, filiform, 6-10 mm. Calyx shallowly cup-shaped, ca. 1 × 1 cm, lobes 5, triangular, 1/2 as long as calyx. Corolla yellow with purple-red center, campanulate, ca. 2.5 cm in diam.; petals obovate, ca. 1.5 cm. Staminal column ca. 8 mm. Capsule nearly globose, ca. 1.2 cm in diam., long hirsute, 5-angular, winged along margins, apex beaked. Persistent sepals foliaceous, ca. 2 × 1 cm. Seeds reniform, glabrous, verrucose. Fl. Jul-Aug.

● Dry and hot grassy slopes; 500-600 m. S Yunnan (Yuanjiang).

Hibiscus yunnanensis is closely related to the widespread H. vitifolius Linnaeus, differing only in leaf shape, which in H. vitifolius is prominently 3-7-lobed.