Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

VENICE MALLOW

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Hibiscus trionum L.

Riley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-24 inches

Family: Malvaceae - Mallow Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Also Called:

Flower-of-an-hour.

Stems:

Erect to ascending, single, spreading from base, much-branched, with simple and star-shaped hairs.

Leaves:

Alternate, stalked, ovate or circular in outline, .5 to 3 inches long, .5 to 2.5 inches wide, palmately divided into 3-7 segments; segments lanceolate, oblong, or wedge-shaped, toothed or lobed, surfaces with scattered simple and star-shaped hairs; middle segment largest; margins saw-toothed or scalloped.

Inflorescences:

1-3-flowered, terminal, on short stalks in axils of upper leaves; bracts 10-15, linear; margins fringed with hairs.

Flowers:

1 to 2.5 inches across; calyces 5-sided, inflated, membranous, conspicuously dark-nerved, stiff-hairy; corollas 5-petaled, whitish to cream with dark purplish centers; veins dark; margins sometimes dark purple; stamens numerous, reddish, filaments united in column, anthers yellow.

Fruits:

Capsules, spherical to egg-shaped, 5-celled, hairy, enclosed in inflated calyces; seeds many, tiny, rough, grayish brown to blackish.

Habitat:

Disturbed sites, waste ground, cultivated fields, pastures, and roadsides.

Distribution:

Throughout, more frequently eastward in Kansas.

Origin:

Escaped ornamental that was introduced from southern Europe.

Comments:

Called "flower-of-an-hour" because of the brief time each flower remains open in the morning. Venice mallow can be a problem weed. The seeds can remain viable in the soil for years.

Venice mallow