Hibiscus coulteri – Desert Rosemallow

Hibiscus coulteri - Desert Rosemallow, Coulter's Hibiscus (cream flower)

Hibiscus coulteri - Desert Rosemallow, Coulter's Hibiscus (yellow flower)

Hibiscus coulteri - Desert Rosemallow, Coulter's Hibiscus

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Hibiscus coulteri

Common Names: Desert Rosemallow, Coulter's Hibiscus

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Deciduous

Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert. This wildflower grows in foothill canyons and on rocky slopes.

Flower Color: Pale yellow, Cream

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall (early). It blooms sporadically throughout much of the year, but it blooms most heavily in the spring and then again in the late summer after the summer monsoon rains.

Height: To 4 feet (1.2 m) tall

Description: The flowers are up to 2 inches (5 cm) wide and have 5 fan-shaped petals that are either solid-colored or streaked with red at the base and a ring of green, linear bracts. The leaves are green, hairy, alternate, and 3-lobed. The leaf margins have only a few smaller lobes or a few large, rounded teeth. The stems are slender, upright, and covered with flattened hairs. The plants are often sparse, lanky, and difficult to spot unless blooming.

The similar, but less common Arizona Rosemallow (Hibiscus biseptus) has leaves with heavily toothed margins and palmately 3-5-lobed leaves.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Dilleniidae
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae – Mallow family
Genus: Hibiscus L. – rosemallow
Species: Hibiscus coulteri Harv. ex A. Gray – desert rosemallow

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map