Plant: shrub; to 1 m tall, the stems setose and with smaller hairs

Leaves: usually palmately 3-5-lobed, dentate, mostly 4-8 cm long

Flowers: solitary in leaf axils, long-pedicellate; bracts of involucel linear, setose; calyx 23-33 mm long; petals 2.5-5 cm long, yellow with purplish basal spot

Fruit: capsules, ovoid, glabrous, 9-14 mm long; SEEDS 2.5-3 mm long, densely sericeous, the hairs 3-4 mm long

Misc: Dry, open hillsides and in canyons; 900-1400 m (3000-4500 ft); Apr-Oct

REFERENCES: Fryxell, Paul A. 1994. Malvaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 222-236.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous or suffrutescent perennials, to 1 m tall, stems scarcely woody above the caudex, finely pubescent in 1-2 lines from node to node and also hispid with scattered long, simple or forked hairs.

Leaves: Alternate, upper leaf blades deeply 5-lobed, lobes oblong-lanceolate, 1-3.5 cm long, 3-10 mm wide, lower leaves 3-12 cm long, margins serrate or crenate to dentate, surfaces stellate-hirsute, sometimes with rust-colored hairs, stipules lance-linear, 5-6 mm long, petioles 1.5-2.5 cm long.

Flowers: Large, light yellow with deep red or purple spots at the throats, petals 5, ovate with rounded tips and tapered at the base, (asymmetric), 3-4 cm long, sepals narrowly lanceolate, 2-3.5 cm long, subtended by spiky (but not sharp) linear-lanceolate bractlets nearly equaling or longer than the calyx, these persistent, stamens united, flowers borne axillary or solitary at branch tips.

Fruits: Capsule with 5 carpels, 12-15 mm long, glabrous, this longitudinally dehiscent on the back, midway between but not through the septa. Seeds reniform, many, finely hirsute with long hairs 2-4 mm long.

Ecology: Found on rocky slopes, in canyons and arroyos, from 3,000-4,500 ft (914-1372 m); flowering April-October.

Distribution: Arizona, New Mexico; Mexico.

Notes: The keys to this species are the yellow flowers and the stems pubescent in 1-2 lines, herbaceous above the caudex.

Ethnobotany: There is no specific use recorded for the species, but the genus has many uses.

Etymology: Hibiscus is the ancient Greek and Latin name for some mallow-like plant, while the meaning of biseptus is unknown.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011