Chinese Hibiscus

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, known colloquially as the Chinese hibiscus is an evergreen flowering shrub native to East Asia.

It is widely grown as an ornamental plant throughout the tropics and subtropics. The flowers are large, generally red in the original varieties, and firm, but generally lack any scent. Despite their size and red hues attractive to nectar-feeding birds, they are not visited regularly by hummingbirds when grown in the Neotropics. Generalists, like the Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Amazilia lactea, or long-billed species, like the Stripe-breasted Starthroat, Heliomaster squamosus, are occasionally seen to visit it, however. In the subtropical and temperate Americas, hummingbirds are attracted to them on a regular basis.

Chinese Hibiscus is one of many plant genera with a genetic characteristic known as polyploidy, in which there are more than two complete sets of chromosomes, unlike most other species including human.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis - 15.06.2010