草木槿 cao mu jin

Solandra lobata Murray, Commentat. Soc. Regiae Sci. Gott. 6: 20. 1785; Hibiscus solandra L’Héritier.

Herbs annual, erect, 50-70 cm tall. Branchlets puberulent (hairs simple) and rarely sparsely stellate hairy. Stipules lanceolate, ca. 3(-8) mm, villous; petiole as long as or slightly longer than leaf blade, stellate, puberulent and villous; leaf blade membranous, dimorphic; blades on proximal part of stem ovate-orbicular, 1.5-3 cm, those in middle 3-parted, ca. 5 cm, on distal part of stem nearly divided or 3-foliate, margin roundly dentate, stellate pilose and puberulent abaxially, pilose adaxially. Flowers solitary or arranged in sparse racemes, axillary. Pedicel 2-2.5 cm, pilose, articulate near end. Epicalyx absent. Calyx cup-shaped, ca. 4 mm, membranous, lobes 5, lanceolate, abaxially pilose and strigose, persistent. Corolla yellow; petals 0.6-0.7 cm. Staminal column ca. 0.4 cm. Styles 5, extending. Capsule broadly ovoid, ca. 7 mm, apex beaked; mericarps 5, endocarp thin, villous along ventral suture. Seeds with scalelike hairs. Fl. Oct-Dec.

Moist open forests. Hainan [Bhutan, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka; Africa, Madagascar].

Hibiscus lobatus is the only species of Hibiscus in China that lacks an epicalyx.