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Tiny Flower Hibiscus
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Tiny Flower Hibiscus
ative elliptic Photo: Tabish
Common name: Tiny Flower Hibiscus • Malayalam: Oorikai • Tamil: Kallai Chedi
Botanical name: Hibiscus micranthus    Family: Malvaceae (mallow family)
Synonyms: Hibiscus rigidus, Hibiscus parvifolius

This should be a Hibiscus with one of the smallest flowers. Tiny Flower Hibiscus is a perennial with stems branched, stiff, erect, up to 40-100 cm. Leaves with stalk up to 1.2 cm, variable in size and shape, 0.5-2.5 x 0.5-3.5 cm, triangular or oval with rounded base, with toothed edges and pointed tips. Flowers are white or pink, 1-1.5 cm across, on stalks up to 3 cm, only open in direct sunlight. Epicalyx segments are 6-8, 2-4 mm long, threadlike, stiff. Sepal cup is 5 mm long, 5 lobed; sepals lanceshaped or triangular. Fruit is a spherical capsule, 1 cm across. Seeds densely covered with white hairs. Tiny Flower Hibiscus is native to Tropical Africa, Arabia, India, Pakistan to Myanmar. Flowering: January-May.

Identification credit: Navendu Page, Pradip Krishen Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi.

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