Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Hibiscus richardsonii

Flower and leaves. Photographer Ben Gooden, north of Nowra

Plant with flower and seed cases. Photographer Jackie Miles near Malua Bay

Plant with spent flower and flower buds. Photographer Don Wood, Eurobodalla National Park, south of Narooma

Common name

Flower-of-an-hour, Bladder ketmia

Family

Malvaceae

Where found

Open dry forest and woodland, disturbed sites, or fringing saline mud flats. Coastal north from Tathra.

Notes

Herb to 1 m tall. Branchlets with stellate hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see) and sparse coarse and fine bristles. Leaves alternating up the stems. Mid-stem and upper leaves 3-lobed (rarely unlobed or 5- or 7- lobed), 2-6.5 cm long, 15-45 mm wide, stellate hairy, margins toothed, tips of the lobes pointed or blunt. Flowers with 5 petals 19-26 mm long, yellow, the bases faintly flushed pink, sometimes with faint red striations.

Was included in Hibiscus trionum.

Description and photo in: Craven, L.A., de Lange, P.J., Lally, T.R., Murray, B.G. & Johnson, S.B., (2011) A taxonomic re-evaluation of Hibiscus trionum (Malvaceae) in Australasia. New Zealand Journal of Botany 49(1): 30-34, Figs 1A, 2A, 3