Unnamed hibiscus blooms favour the late morning it seems

Around the edge of Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct lawn, in the Australian Garden at Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, you'll find a few species and cultivars of native hibiscus. Mostly large shrubs with colourful purple or pink flowers, and always attention grabbing when they bloom in later summer.

My featured plant today is one with furry, mostly kangaroo-paw shaped leaves. The label says 'Hibiscus sp. Baramabah Creek', suggesting taxonomists haven't quite had the courage (or necessary evidence) to describe it as a new species.

The name used in the Atlas of Australia and the Queensland Herbarium is 'Hibiscus sp. (Barambah Creek P.Grimshaw + PG2484)': Ecologist Paul Grimshaw is the collector and 2484 is the collection number he gave to his gathering of this (potential) new species. 

Baramabah Creek is about 200 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, in southern Queensland. I can't find much about this plant, but I gather it was collected by Paul Grimshaw in the last couple of decades and has become popular due its large pretty flowers and the absence of thorns. While not under threat at the moment it is known from only four natural populations. 

The large flowers and thornless stems make Hibiscus sp. BC - if I may call it that - a popular selection for breeding with other native hibiscus species, such as Hibiscus heterophyllus. One of the products, 'Aussie Pearl', also grows in the garden flanking the Lakeside Precinct.

You might have noticed my photographs show only closed or partly opened flowers. That's because I inevitably take my walk around Cranbourne Gardens early in the morning, and as with at least some other native hibiscus, the flowers open late morning. 

As an aside, hibiscus from elsewhere are often described as opening their flowers in the early morning, so are Australian species a little different in this regard? I might be extrapolating unreasonably here so do set me straight.

Anyway, I was excited to find what I think is the same 'species' in Fritsch Holzer Park, in Hawthorn East, but again found myself there at the wrong time of day. Still, always good to have a few plant observations on the 'to do' list (not quite the 'bucket list'...). By then, it may have a proper name.

Fritsch Holzer Park