Hibiscus mutabilis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Protologue: Sp. pl. 2: 694 (1753).

Vernacular names

Changeable rose, confederate rose (En).
Rose changeante (Fr)
Indonesia: waru landak (Javanese), saya ngali-ngali (Ternate)
Malaysia: botan, mati laki mati bini, bunga waktu besar
Philippines: amapola, mapula (Tagalog)
Thailand: phuttaan (central), dok saamsee, saam phiu (northern)
Vietnam: phù dung, mộc liên.

Distribution

H. mutabilis grows wild and is also cultivated in China. It is now widely cultivated in the tropics, including South-East Asia.

Uses

The leaves and flowers of H. mutabilis are considered emollient and cooling, and are used on swellings and cutaneous infections. In decoction, they are a remedy for pulmonary complaints.

Observations

An erect, robust shrub to small tree, 1.5-4 m tall, densely covered with greyish, stellate hairs.
Leaves orbicular to broadly ovate, 10-25 cm long, base cordate, apex pointed, mostly 5-lobed, lobes triangular, coarsely serrate-dentate, pubescent.
Bracteoles of epicalyx 7-10, linear, shorter than the calyx tube, calyx 3-4 cm long, with 5 oblong-ovate lobes, connate below, corolla large, 10-12 cm in diameter, petals 5-7 cm long, single or double, corolla white in the morning, with or without a purple centre, colouring red in the afternoon, stigma yellow or white.
Seed ovoid, pubescent, hairs 2-4 mm long.

The single flowered pink type of H. mutabilis is wild in China; the double-flowered type is more common in cultivation.

Selected sources

[74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
[134] Burkill, H.M., 1985—2000. The useful plants of West tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. 5 volumes. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Vol. 1 (1985), Families A—D, 960 pp.; Vol. 2 (1994), Families E—I, 636 pp.; Vol. 3 (1995), Families J—L, 857 pp.; Vol. 4 (1997), Families M—R, 969 pp; Vol. 5 (2000), Families S—Z, 686 pp.
[135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
[215] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
[407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
[786] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
[788] Pételot, A., 1952—1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
[810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
[1127] Zheng, M.S., 1989. An experimental study of the anti-HSV-II action of 500 herbal drugs. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 9(2): 113—116.

Main genus page

Hibiscus (Medicinal plants)

Authors

Undang A. Dasuki