Tropical Zone Gardening: Restless natives of the Top End, 1 by tropicbreeze

tropicbreeze wrote:
Dave, it was one of the upper mature leaves. The stem was sprawled through the grass and about half a metre long. I've googled images of diversifolius but many of the photos look a little different. Mine in the pot gets closer to the internet images, but the description from NSW says it sometimes grows in water. Yet the one here seems to keep to the higher better drained ground. Maybe they're both variations of the same species and I just haven't waded in deep enough. I know another area where lots are growing but difficult to access in the wet season. With the current break in the monsoon I might be able to get in there and check them out.

This is Hibiscus panduriformis var, australis (according to the book - a pretty positive ID anyway). Apart from northern Australia, apparently widespread throughout South East Asia and even Africa as well.

They grow in gravelly/rocky poorly drained country to a height of 2 metres, often in large numbers so that they make a bit of a display. I've seen plants standing in water, but they weren't growing as well as those a little higher.

Photo 026

This message was edited Mar 24, 2009 6:18 PM