Wednesday 22 May
In the News: Nature health check finds UK wildlife to be in trouble
Hill hibiscus (Hibiscus sturtii)
Top facts
- The hill hibiscus is native to Australia.
- Hill hibiscus seeds are encased within hairy, spherical capsules that are one centimetre in length.
What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.Hill hibiscus fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Hill hibiscus description
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Malvales |
| Family | Malvaceae |
| Genus | Hibiscus (1) |
The hill hibiscus (Hibiscus sturtii) is a rigid plant that grows both outwards (horizontal to the ground) and upwards (2) (3). Its broad, oval-shaped leaves are thick and soft, and its flowers vary in colour being either pink, purple or white (2) (4). Each flower has a diameter of approximately six centimetres (2). The seeds are contained within hairy, spherical, one-centimetre capsules (1) (2).
There are five recognised varieties of the hill hibiscus: Hibiscus var. grandiflora, Hibiscus var. sturtii, Hibiscus var. muelleri, Hibiscus var. campylochlamys, and Hibiscus var. platychlamys (2) (3). These varieties differ slightly in appearance and geographical location within Australia (3).
- Size
- Height: 75 cm (2)
More »
Top
Related species
Hill hibiscus biology
The hill hibiscus flowers continuously throughout the year (6), but each individual flower only survives for up to two days (2). This species can survive in a range of soils and habitats (6), but is known to be sensitive to frost (7).
There is currently very little information available on the biology of the hill hibiscus.
TopHill hibiscus range
The hill hibiscus is considered to be widespread across Australia, with the exception of Victoria and Tasmania (2).
More »
Top
Species with a similar range
Hill hibiscus habitat
Occurring in a variety of different habitats, the hill hibiscus is found in open forest and on sand plains (2). This species also occurs in rocky habitats and woodland dominated by eucalyptus trees (5).
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Hill hibiscus status
The hill hibiscus is not yet classified on the IUCN Red List.
TopHill hibiscus threats
The hill hibiscus is not currently considered to be a threatened species.
TopHill hibiscus conservation
There are no known conservation measures for the hill hibiscus at present.
TopFind out more
Find out more about the hill hibiscus:
-
The Australian Native Plants Society - Hibiscus sturtii:
http://anpsa.org.au/h-stu.html -
PlantNet New South Wales Flora online - Hibiscus sturtii:
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Hibiscus~sturtii
More on Australian flora:
-
FloraBase: The Western Australian Flora:
http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/
Authentication
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk
Glossary
- Variety
- In taxonomy, the science of classifying organisms, variety is a rank below species or subspecies. Members of a variety differ from others of the same species in relatively minor ways.
References
-
PlantNet: New South Wales Flora online - Hibiscus sturtii (March, 2013)
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Hibiscus~sturtii -
Australian Native Plants Society - Hibiscus sturtii (March, 2013)
http://anpsa.org.au/h-stu.html - Bentham, G. and von Mueller, F. (1863)Flora Australiensis: A Description of the Plants of the Australian Territory. Volume One. L. Reeve and Company, London.
- Woolls, W. (1867) A contribution to the flora of Australia. F. White, Sydney.
- Pellow, B., Henwood, M. and Carolin, R. (2009) Flora of the Sydney Region: a complete revision. Fifth Edition. Sydney University Press, Sydney.
-
FloraBase: The Western Australian Flora (March, 2013)
http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/4942 -
Alice Springs Town Council Recommended Plant Database - Hibiscus sturtii (March, 2013)
http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/plant/display/id/150
More »Related species
This species is featured in:
This species is found in Barrow Island. Visit our Barrow Island topic page to find out more.
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Hill hibiscus flower
© Wayne Lawler / Auscape International
Auscape International
PO Box 1024,
Bowral
NSW
25a76
Australia
Tel: (+61) 2 4885 2245
Fax: (+61) 2 4885 2715
sales@auscape.com.au
http://www.auscape.com.au
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.