Hibiscus syriacus L.
Althea, Korean Hibiscus, Mugunghwa, Rose Of Sharon
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Hibiscus syriacus is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is native to areas of east Asia, but widely introduced elsewhere, including much of Europe and North America. It was given the epithet syriacus because it had been collected from gardens in Syria. Common names include the rose of Sharon, Syrian ketmia, shrub althea (or simply althea), Korean rose and rose mallow. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Hibiscus syriacus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Hibiscus
Hibiscus is a genus of plants in the family Malvaceae native to the tropics and subtropics. The genus is quite large, comprising 319 species. Hibiscus are renowned for their large, showy flowers and those species are commonly known simply as "hibiscus", or less widely known as rose mallow. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Hibiscus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Althaea frutex Mill.; Althaea furtex Mill.; Hibiscus acerifolius Salisb.; Hibiscus arborescens Gaterau; Hibiscus chinensis DC. and 31 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1076 mm of 1494 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.5 °C against a yearly mean of 17.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1494 mm a year, wettest June at 238 mm, driest December at 34 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1494 mm a year at the habitat, 1076 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 238 mm, driest December at 34 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 881 mm to 2832 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor -3.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.5 °C, the absolute minimum -11.1 °C, about 24 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells -4.3 °C to 11.4 °C), warmest day 29.4 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 8 / 5–18 | 11 / 7–18 | 15 / 11–20 | 21 / 16–23 | 25 / 20–27 | 28 / 22–30 | 29 / 25–33 | 29 / 24–32 | 26 / 21–29 | 22 / 16–26 | 16 / 12–22 | 11 / 6–19 |
| Night °C | 2 / -4–11 | 3 / -2–13 | 7 / 2–16 | 12 / 8–19 | 17 / 12–22 | 21 / 16–24 | 23 / 17–26 | 23 / 17–26 | 20 / 14–24 | 14 / 10–20 | 9 / 3–17 | 3 / -2–13 |
| Rain mm | 55 / 10–104 | 76 / 14–147 | 109 / 30–216 | 156 / 49–232 | 201 / 92–311 | 238 / 143–349 | 194 / 149–343 | 169 / 121–270 | 118 / 82–290 | 91 / 46–129 | 53 / 30–105 | 34 / 12–67 |
| DLI | 17 / 13–20 | 18 / 15–24 | 21 / 18–30 | 27 / 23–34 | 30 / 26–36 | 30 / 27–35 | 33 / 30–38 | 32 / 29–35 | 27 / 22–29 | 22 / 16–26 | 17 / 14–22 | 16 / 12–21 |
| RH % | 61 / 56–66 | 62 / 57–67 | 63 / 57–68 | 62 / 58–67 | 63 / 58–68 | 64 / 60–69 | 64 / 61–68 | 64 / 61–68 | 63 / 60–66 | 62 / 58–65 | 61 / 56–65 | 60 / 56–65 |
Each figure is the median across the 44 grid cells holding the 45 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1256:5796 (27.175, 109.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -11.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 44 distinct grid cells holding the 45 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1256:5796 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.00_110.000, lapse-corrected -185 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 284 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Douglas Goldman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); no rights reserved · CC0 (5); (c) a_virginian, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Hibiscus syriacus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Daphne odora winter daphne
Hosta plantaginea August-lily
Kalimeris indica Indian aster
Osmanthus fragrans Fragrant olive, Sweet olive, Tea olive
Edgeworthia chrysantha Oriental paperbush
Musa basjoo Japanese bananaOther Hibiscus 10 in the reference
Hibiscus acetosella Malvaceae
Hibiscus arnottianus Hawaiian White Hibiscus
Hibiscus coccineus scarlet rose-mallow
Hibiscus huegelii Malvaceae
Hibiscus laevis halberd-leaf rose-mallow
Hibiscus moscheutos Common Rose-mallow
Hibiscus mutabilis Changeable Rose-mallow
Hibiscus schizopetalus Fringed Rosemallow
Hibiscus trionum Bladder Ketmia History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 44 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








