Hibiscus propulsator Craven & B.E.Pfeil

Craven, L.A. & Pfeil, B.E. (2004) Adansonia 26(2): 238. Type: Australia: Queensland, Temple Bay, c. 2 km NW of Bolt Head, 12 15S, 142 04E, 12 July 1991, Forster 8937 (holo: BRI; iso: A, B, BISH, BO, CANB, G, K, L, LAE, MEL, P, QRS).

Flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-3 m tall.

Both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade, petioles and twigs clothed in stellate hairs, sometimes sparsely. Leaf blades about 6-18 x 2-5.5 cm with a rough texture but not abrasive enough to be classed as sandpapery. Lateral veins looping inside the blade margin. Stipules about 1.5-4 mm long. Twig bark clothed in stellate hairs, strong and fibrous when stripped.

Pedicels about 10-20 mm long. Epicalyx segments about seven, filiform, completely free from one another, about 12-15 mm long. Calyx about 10-15 mm long, lower half fused, outer surface densely clothed in stellate hairs. Petals pink, red or purple, about 20-30 mm long. Stamens 20, anthers wider than long, filaments short, about 1 mm long.

Capsules about 17 x 13 mm, calyx and epicalyx persistent at the base. Seeds about 5 x 3 mm. Testa clothed in long white stellate hairs. Cotyledons rolled. Radicle thick and curved, about 3 mm long.

Cotyledons orbicular, about 10-15 mm diam., base cordate. Stem below the cotyledons clothed in simple, erect, straight hairs. Stem above the cotyledons clothed in stellate hairs. First pair of true leaves with stellate hairs on both the upper and lower surfaces. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade obovate, apex acute, base cordate to truncate or obtuse. Stem and both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade hispid, densely clothed in stellate hairs. Leaf blade margin irregularly lobed or indented. Stipules linear, about 4-8 mm long, densely clothed in stellate hairs. Taproot swollen, carrot-like (Daucus carota). Seed germination time 56 days.

Endemic to CYP, known only from collections made in the Bolt Head area. Altitudinal range very small being found in areas close to the sea. Grows in rain forest on sand and in vine thickets.