Hibiscus furcatus Roxb.

Hibiscus hispidissimus is apparently known in China only by a single 19th-century collection, A. Henry 13566. See Pradeep and Sivarajan (Taxon 40: 634-637. 1991) for a discussion of the nomenclature of this species.

Herbs, to 1.5 m tall, trailing or suberect, most parts simple-pubescent and aculeate, prickles with prominent basal tubercles, retrorsely reflexed, straight. Stipules lanceolate, 5-14 × 2-3 mm, margins setose; petiole 2-8 cm, abaxially aculeate, adaxially densely pubescent; leaf blade broadly ovate or palmately 3-5(-7)-lobed, 2.5-10 × 3-8 cm, both surfaces with tubercle-based prickly hairs on veins. Flowers solitary, axillary. Pedicel 1.5-7 cm. Epicalyx lobes 8-12, 1-2 cm long overall, inner branch erect, linear-lanceolate, outer branch oblong-ovate, slightly shorter. Calyx deeply divided, shorter than epicalyx, lobes adaxially densely white puberulent. Corolla yellow with purple center, 5-10 cm wide. Capsule ovoid, ca. 1.5 cm, enclosed in enlarged calyx, densely hairy. Seeds brownish, ± reniform, 4-5 mm, sparsely white scaly.

Yunnan (Simao) [Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand; Africa].

About 1500 m.

Hibiscus aculeatus Roxburgh (1832), not Walter (1788), nor F. Dietrich (1817), nor G. Don (1831); H. furcatus Roxburgh ex Candolle (1824), not Willdenow (1809); H. surattensis Linnaeus var. furcatus Roxburgh ex Hochreutiner.

Hibiscus hispidissimus is a species of Hibiscus found in South East Asia.