Species
+

Hibiscus syriacus L.

Althea, Korean Hibiscus, Mugunghwa, Rose Of Sharon

Climate known 58 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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.

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan
Wild records
45 in range· 19 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jul, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1494mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 238 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–33DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1494 mm a year, wettest June at 238 mm, driest December at 34 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

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.

Temperature

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.

Humidity

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

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Jul; mean night from 2 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1494 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 44 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -11.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost34.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)-11.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 16–33RH 60–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 44 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 5–1811 / 7–1815 / 11–2021 / 16–2325 / 20–2728 / 22–3029 / 25–3329 / 24–3226 / 21–2922 / 16–2616 / 12–2211 / 6–19
Night °C2 / -4–113 / -2–137 / 2–1612 / 8–1917 / 12–2221 / 16–2423 / 17–2623 / 17–2620 / 14–2414 / 10–209 / 3–173 / -2–13
Rain mm55 / 10–10476 / 14–147109 / 30–216156 / 49–232201 / 92–311238 / 143–349194 / 149–343169 / 121–270118 / 82–29091 / 46–12953 / 30–10534 / 12–67
DLI17 / 13–2018 / 15–2421 / 18–3027 / 23–3430 / 26–3630 / 27–3533 / 30–3832 / 29–3527 / 22–2922 / 16–2617 / 14–2216 / 12–21
RH %61 / 56–6662 / 57–6763 / 57–6862 / 58–6763 / 58–6864 / 60–6964 / 61–6864 / 61–6863 / 60–6662 / 58–6561 / 56–6560 / 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

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan· introduced: Great Britain, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, Sardegna, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Tunisia, Cameroon, Northern Provinces, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Iran, Japan, Korea, Assam, East Himalaya, India, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Thailand, Vietnam, Tubuai Is., Marianas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Connecticut, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Utah, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Bermuda, Cuba, Ecuador, Juan Fernández Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker31.82, 108.62 · in the densest population, 26 records (58% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 45 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 19 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 219 km away. 1925 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 45 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Hibiscus syriacusHibiscus syriacusHibiscus syriacusHibiscus syriacusHibiscus syriacusHibiscus syriacusHibiscus syriacusHibiscus syriacus

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.

Phenological responses of plants to climate change in an urban environment
Zhongkui Luo, Osbert Jianxin Sun, Quansheng Ge, Wenting Xu (2006) · Ecological Research
Coumarins with Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitory Activity and Antioxidative Coumarino-lignans from Hibiscus syriacus
Bong-Sik Yun, In-Kyoung Lee, In‐Ja Ryoo, Ick‐Dong Yoo (2001) · Journal of Natural Products
Differences in ozone sensitivity among woody species are related to leaf morphology and antioxidant levels
Pin Li, Vicent Calatayud, Feng Gao, Johan Uddling (2016) · Tree Physiology
Characterization of cyclopropenoid acids in selected seed oils
T. L. Wilson, C. R. Smith, K. L. Mikolajczak (1961) · Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society
Distribution, feeding behavior and control strategies of the exotic land snail Achatina fulica (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) in the northeast of Brazil
FS. Albuquerque, MC. Peso-Aguiar, MJT. Assunção-Albuquerque (2008) · Brazilian Journal of Biology
Feeding Behavior of Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) and Response on Feeding Stimulants of Some Plants
Jeongeun Lee, Sang-Rae Moon, Hee-Geun Ahn, Sun-Ran Cho (2009) · Korean journal of applied entomology
Anthocyanins isolated from Hibiscus syriacus L. attenuate lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation and endotoxic shock by inhibiting the TLR4/MD2-mediated NF-κB signaling pathway
Wisurumuni Arachchilage Hasitha Maduranga Karunarathne, Kyoung Tae Lee, Yung Hyun Choi, Cheng‐Yun Jin (2020) · Phytomedicine
The triterpenoids of Hibiscus syriacus induce apoptosis and inhibit cell migration in breast cancer cells
Ren‐Jun Hsu, Yao‐Chin Hsu, Shu-Pin Chen, Chia-Lynn Fu (2015) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Anthocyanins from Hibiscus syriacus L. Inhibit Oxidative Stress-Mediated Apoptosis by Activating the Nrf2/HO-1 Signaling Pathway
Ilandarage Menu Neelaka Molagoda, Kyoung Tae Lee, Yung Hyun Choi, Gi‐Young Kim (2020) · Antioxidants

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.

Other Hibiscus 10 in the reference

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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata 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: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.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 answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every 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.