My wife loves her potted plants garden. I love the look of the garden and the flowers that grow in it. We have a large variety of plants, which grow different types of flowers that look good. We have three types of Hibiscus. One is the common Indian red hibiscus, technically called Abelmosk: It grows large pink-red 5 petal flowers. Its pot is located on the east side. On the south side, we have two. One is white Hibiscus, which grows white flowers similar to the first one, but smaller and more delicate. The other is Hibiscus rosa-sinensis or China Rose. Its flower is layered. While the Abelmosk and white Hibiscus flowers have a single pistil and a few stamens bunched on its terminal part, the China rose has three sets of the same.
We have had the plants for a few years. They blossom regularly, without any surprises. The day before yesterday, the China Rose grew five flowers, of which three were of the regular type, while two were of five-petal type (like Abelmosk) in a single layer. The pistil was much thicker than the usual stamens of the China Rose. Shape of each petal was like the China Rose type. Both types had come from the same single plant. Here is a snap of those flowers. There are three of China Rose type in the back row and two of the variant type in the front row.
I have zoomed and put one flower of each type side by side for comparison in the following picture.
Yesterday we had a large number of flowers from the three plants (28 to be exact), but there were no variants. Today we had six on the China Rose plant, of which 5 were the normal, usual type, and one was a variant. I took a snap of two of those to show that they actually came from the same plant. The upper one is a variant, while the lower one is the usual one.
We have not grafted another Hibiscus type one the China Rose. Since a single stem has come out of the pot and then branched out, there is no possibility of two plants growing side by side. It could not have happened without our knowledge anyway, because my wife planted a single twig which took roots and grew up in front of us. Thus it is a unique case of two different flower types growing on a single Hibiscus plant. I did an exhaustive Google search and failed to find any instance of such an occurrence. If we were not doctors, we would have perhaps called it a miracle. Being doctors, we think it is a genetic mutation. Either way we are proud that God chose to put its first occurrence in our humble home.
Update: 09-01-2014
Actually it is three flower types, not two as I had originally written. This week we had a flower that had only two rows of petals arranged concentrically, not four and not one. There was a single stamen. Its picture is shown below.
Update: 12-02-2014
I found an interesting variant of the China Rose, shown as B in the following picture. Flower marked A is the usual type. Usually the sepals are small and green on both the inner and outer surfaces. This variant had large sepals (though smaller than petals). These were green on the outer surface, and red like the petals on the inner surface.
Update: 10-03-2014
I found the first variant of the white Hibiscus, shown in the following photograph. The usual type shown in A has the petals overlapping the edges of the previous petal going anticlockwise. The variant shown in B has the petals overlapping the previous petal going clockwise.
We have had the plants for a few years. They blossom regularly, without any surprises. The day before yesterday, the China Rose grew five flowers, of which three were of the regular type, while two were of five-petal type (like Abelmosk) in a single layer. The pistil was much thicker than the usual stamens of the China Rose. Shape of each petal was like the China Rose type. Both types had come from the same single plant. Here is a snap of those flowers. There are three of China Rose type in the back row and two of the variant type in the front row.
Yesterday we had a large number of flowers from the three plants (28 to be exact), but there were no variants. Today we had six on the China Rose plant, of which 5 were the normal, usual type, and one was a variant. I took a snap of two of those to show that they actually came from the same plant. The upper one is a variant, while the lower one is the usual one.
We have not grafted another Hibiscus type one the China Rose. Since a single stem has come out of the pot and then branched out, there is no possibility of two plants growing side by side. It could not have happened without our knowledge anyway, because my wife planted a single twig which took roots and grew up in front of us. Thus it is a unique case of two different flower types growing on a single Hibiscus plant. I did an exhaustive Google search and failed to find any instance of such an occurrence. If we were not doctors, we would have perhaps called it a miracle. Being doctors, we think it is a genetic mutation. Either way we are proud that God chose to put its first occurrence in our humble home.
Update: 09-01-2014
Actually it is three flower types, not two as I had originally written. This week we had a flower that had only two rows of petals arranged concentrically, not four and not one. There was a single stamen. Its picture is shown below.
I found an interesting variant of the China Rose, shown as B in the following picture. Flower marked A is the usual type. Usually the sepals are small and green on both the inner and outer surfaces. This variant had large sepals (though smaller than petals). These were green on the outer surface, and red like the petals on the inner surface.
Update: 10-03-2014
I found the first variant of the white Hibiscus, shown in the following photograph. The usual type shown in A has the petals overlapping the edges of the previous petal going anticlockwise. The variant shown in B has the petals overlapping the previous petal going clockwise.
