Can anyone identify this plant. I collected the seeds in 1992 and have been propagating since. Not sure if its a native or exotic to Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory of Australia. Perhaps a species of Gossypium ? Seed capsules similar to Sturt's Desert Rose

Hibiscus radiatus looks a good bet .. click on the first photo to get a larger pic.

http://tropical.theferns.info/...

http://www.saintlucianplants.c...

I agree. I have some that are blooming now.

I agree too ... looks just like Monarch Rosemallow (Hibiscus radiatus)

Yes it must be Hibiscus Radiatus....I have wondered for 20 years....thanks for the replies. In my climate ( Monsoonal Wet/Dry ) I treat the plant as an annual, although if given copious quantities of water during the 'dry' it will survive until the rains return.
Potted specimens I grew at Yandicoogina, Western Australia ( Pilbara hot arid desert summer temps +45c )

Looks like you're in the back of woop woop greys, I don't envy you those temperatures, how do you manage to work in such heat? I can see a settlement to the north east of the airport, can't really see the airport though. Where does the water come from in the dry season, is it stored in tanks?

For those interested where this is, it's mining country in a vast area of Aus outback.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

A zoomed out view, to get an idea of the size of Australia, the state of Victoria (bottom right corner) is about the same size as Great Britain, Aus is around 33 times as big as GB. That's what I remember from my school days.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

Yes its Iron Ore country about 1400klm North West of Perth and 450klm south of Port Hedland. Altitude about 600m ASL right in the middle of the beautiful Hammersly Ranges. Airport is called Barrimunya about 30klm from the mine and camp at Yandicoogina. Brutally hot climate with weeks on end of temps in the mid 40's.
Most of the rain here falls during thunderstorms and occasionally from Cyclonic depressions that cross the Pilbara coast. Winters are surprisingly cool ( for a Darwin resident that is ) with mornings as low as 2c ( Mt Newman records the odd frost ) and this year we quite a run of cold wet winter days 12c-15c max temps ! Didn't really make up for the 7 months of the year when temps can exceed 40c !
There is a good supply of artesian water out this way, in fact a creek system known as Willi Wolli flows all year round due to the de-watering of the Hope Downs Mine. An oasis in an otherwise very dry and desolate part of Australia.
Lots of native wildflowers thrive in this environment, The purple one is called Mulla Mulla and the red one is Sturt's Desert Pea.


View from the mine camp

The winters you have are similar to much of the spring, summer and autumn here. In 2007 most of the summer was 14-16C with one day only 12C max! Winters can be mild but usually with at least three months of quite cold weather often in the low single figures C. We usually have very few frosts which rarely go below -5/-6C, but every once in a few years it hits hard. Winter 2010/11 gave us 7 weeks constantly below freezing down to around -17C with one day maximum -7C! We can get temps. in April max. 4C, we had snow in the first week of June some years ago.

Sturt's Desert Pea is the floral emblem of South Australia (where I come from), I never saw one though. It's spectacular! You've sent me on a nostalgic trip.

https://www.anbg.gov.au/emblem...

Mulla mulla must be a sight to see, it seems to be useful for it's natural properties.

http://ausflowers.com.au/Mulla...

The ground view from the camp is better than the aerial view, the little man on google wasn't playing ball to get a 'street view', he kept jumping back but I guess the google vehicles don't venture to such places.

Do you know what the yellow flowers are in the last shot?

No, I'm not sure of the name, although I deliberately framed the tree in the photo to add some perspective ( and color ). It is a very harsh landscape which does respond nicely to rain events. Back in June 2013 we had a 225mm overnight fall of rain that flooded the countryside

Brings out the new wildflowers

I've been searching for wildflowers of the area, not much luck so far on the yellow one but I found the blue one!

On page 46 of 48 ..

Cattlebush - Trichodesma zeylanicum

http://www.wanowandthen.com/wi...

http://www.ausemade.com.au/nt/...

Talking of floods, places here had nearly 200mm in one night with 100mm in other places. Cumbria has had serious flooding.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-3...