Seed parent

Pollen parent

Offspring

Bumping this

I'm trying to use these in some breeding. The white one is a hibiscus dasycalyx and the smaller light pink one is a hibiscus laevis. I found them both growing wild and propagated them. The Lord Baltimore was held there for scale.
I'm also growing a few hibiscus grandiflorus and aculeatus from seed to cross with my others. Not sure if the aculeatus is compatible or not.?

@DraDiana @clintbrown @Horntoad
Can you help @Earlisbubba with the breeding question.

Earlisbubba said:




I'm trying to use these in some breeding. The white one is a hibiscus dasycalyx and the smaller light pink one is a hibiscus laevis. I found them both growing wild and propagated them. The Lord Baltimore was held there for scale.
I'm also growing a few hibiscus grandiflorus and aculeatus from seed to cross with my others. Not sure if the aculeatus is compatible or not.?

Hibiscus dasycalyx, H. moscheutos, H. laevis, H. grandiflorus, and H. coccineus are all members of Hibiscus section Muenchhusia and will cross with each other. Hibiscus aculeatus is in Hibiscus section Furcaria and they usually don't cross sections. Although they don't usually cross with other sections there are occasionally exceptions, so it might be worth a try to experiment. One such case is Hibiscus moscheutos is said to cross with Hibiscus mutabilis (section Venusti), but only if H. mutabilis is used as the seed parent. So if you decide to experiment make sure you use both species as pod and pollen parents to see which works, if any.

Jay! I knew I didn't know the answer to that one. That's interesting about H. mutabilis.

Yesterday I went by miles and miles of ditches full of wild rose mallows, between Poplar Bluff and Dexter and Sikeston, MO. They were mainly white, with occasional medium pink and pale pink ones scattered here and there. I knew the other two people in the car were not going to be pleased if I stopped at every farm road and checked all the plants looking for sports, good seeds, or just to determine if they are subspecies lasiocarpos or moscheutos. I couldn't even use the excuse that I wanted to take a photo, since my cell phone is still dead, and the replacement has not arrived yet. It was TORTURE! I may have to go back on my own, before the bloom season is over. It's only an hour drive to where the blooms start...

DraDiana said: Jay! I knew I didn't know the answer to that one. That's interesting about H. mutabilis.

Yesterday I went by miles and miles of ditches full of wild rose mallows, between Poplar Bluff and Dexter and Sikeston, MO. They were mainly white, with occasional medium pink and pale pink ones scattered here and there. I knew the other two people in the car were not going to be pleased if I stopped at every farm road and checked all the plants looking for sports, good seeds, or just to determine if they are subspecies lasiocarpos or moscheutos. I couldn't even use the excuse that I wanted to take a photo, since my cell phone is still dead, and the replacement has not arrived yet. It was TORTURE! I may have to go back on my own, before the bloom season is over. It's only an hour drive to where the blooms start...

I think I would go back with a bucket of water when they start to bloom and collect cuttings of all the different colors. The Texas Travel Information Center in Orange just across from Lousiana was built over a swamp. They have a boardwalk that goes into the swamp and there are lots of Hibiscus moscheutos subsp. moscheutos. I'm about 25 miles away, in the next county over and all the ones growing near me are subspecies lasiocarpos. I want to try and cross H. mutabilis with some of my native mallows like Texas Star and see what I get. The hard part is the natives bloom in summer and Confederate Rose blooms in fall. I'm going to have to try and save some pollen.

Here is some of the ones at the Travel Center in Orange Texas.

Thank you for posting the photos, Jay. Those are amazing - so big and delicate looking, yet growing totally wild.

I hadn't thought of the bucket - excellent idea, They are at peak bloom right now, as far as I can tell, so there's probably no mature seed pods yet. Cuttings are the way to go anyway, because the seedlings might not resemble the plant the seeds are collected from anyway. Road trip!

Horntoad said:

Hibiscus dasycalyx, H. moscheutos, H. laevis, H. grandiflorus, and H. coccineus are all members of Hibiscus section Muenchhusia and will cross with each other. Hibiscus aculeatus is in Hibiscus section Furcaria and they usually don't cross sections. Although they don't usually cross with other sections there are occasionally exceptions, so it might be worth a try to experiment. One such case is Hibiscus moscheutos is said to cross with Hibiscus mutabilis (section Venusti), but only if H. mutabilis is used as the seed parent. So if you decide to experiment make sure you use both species as pod and pollen parents to see which works, if any.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot anyways . It's not like it will cost me anything.