Hibiscus trionum
| Hibiscus trionum | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |   |
| Hardiness: | 10 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 2' |
| Width: | 1' |
| Speed: | Fast |
| Blooms: | Mid Summer-Late Summer |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Hibiscus trionum (common name: flower of an hour)
Propagation: Seed - sow early spring in a warm greenhouse. Germination is usually fairly rapid. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. If growing them as annuals, plant them out into their permanent positions in early summer and protect them with a frame or cloche until they are growing away well. If hoping to grow them as perennials, then it is better to grow them on in the greenhouse for their first year and to plant them out in early summer of the following year.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Overwinter them in a warm greenhouse and plant out after the last expected frosts.
Cultivation: Prefers a well-drained humus rich fertile soil in a sheltered position in full sun[1].
A very ornamental plant[2], it is an annual or short-lived perennial. Not very frost-tolerant, if started off early in a warm greenhouse it can be grown as an annual in Britain, flowering and setting seed in its first year.
Range: Arid old world tropics. Naturalized in S.E. Europe[3].
Habitat: Cultivated ground and waste places in S.E. Europe[3].
Edibility: Young leaves and young shoots - raw or cooked[4][5].
Root - it is edible but very fibrousy[6]. Mucilaginous, without very much flavour[6].
Medicinal: The flowers are diuretic[7]. They are used in the treatment of itch and painful skin diseases[7].
The dried leaves are said to be stomachic[7].
Pollinators: Insects
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Late Summer-Mid Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tutin, Tom et al.. Flora Europaea. Cambridge University Press, 1964.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Read, Bernard. Famine Foods Listed in the Chiu Huang Pen Ts'ao. Taipei Southern Materials Centre, 1977.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cribb, Alan and Joan Cribb. Wild Food in Australia. Fontana, 1976.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Chopra, R. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, 1986.