Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Hibiscus tiliaceus L. (MALVACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Sea Hibiscus, Beach Hibiscus, Cotton Tree, Baru Baru, Bebaru

Description

Shrubby evergreen tree to 15 m tall. Leaves circular with heart-shaped base, 8-15 cm long. Flowers bright yellow with dark red-purple centre in the morning, fading to orange-pink in the afternoon and falling off on the same day, 7-9 cm long. Fruits gobbles to obovoid with persistent hairy calyx at base, drying and splitting open into 10 pars when ripe.


Ecology

Common on rocky or sandy coasts and brackish rivers.

Distribution

Widely distributed throughout the tropics.

Uses

Often planted as an ornamental.