Home > Plants > Malvaceae > Hibiscus ovalifolius

Updated 6/13/2023

 Family Malvaceae

HAWAII - CULTIVATED

Hibiscus ovalifolius



Koko Crater BG, Oahu

YELLOW ROSE MALLOW

Erect or sprawling shrub native to Tropical Africa, it is cultivated in gardens and was once sparingly naturalized on Kaua'i.  This a not a native Hawaiian species.  In 1919 those naturalized plants were mistaken as an endemic species and given the name Hibiscus rockii.  In 1990 the authors of Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii placed this within the synonymy of Hibiscus calyphyllus, and subsequently reassigned it as a synonym of Hibiscus ovalifolius in the Manual's 2003 Supplement.