A New Hibiscus syriacus ‘Mikyung’ Cultivar with Semi-Dwarf Habit and Dainty White Flowers

Abstract

The Hibiscus ‘Mikyung’, with a uniform plant habit, upright and compact branches and white flowers with red eye spots, was developed through crosses between Hibiscus syriacus ‘Andong’ (♀) and H. syriacus ‘Namwon’ (♂). The Hibiscus breeding program was initiated in 2008 and H. syriacus ‘Mikyung’ was preliminarily selected as ‘WR-99’ in 2011 based on its compact branches and stable flower quality with white flowers. The selected line was further evaluated for different growth characteristics including leaf shape, leaf size and flowering characteristics, and tested for uniqueness, homogeneity and stability from 2011 to 2014. The superior characteristics have been propagated via grafting. ‘Mikyung’ had a small growth habit with compact branches, conferring the potential to be grown in pots. The 3-year-old ‘Mikyung’ trees were 91.7 cm in height and 52.5 cm in width, producing flowers of white color (RHS NN155C) with long red (RHS 60A) eye spots and medium-size fan petals. The size of flower and red eye was 10.6 cm and size of red eye was 2.9 cm. Leaves were 6.3 cm and 3.7 cm in length and width, respectively. After evaluation of plant characteristics for 3 years (2011-2014), the new Hibiscus cultivar was registered as ‘Mikyung’ (6332, number of plant variety protection rights) in 2016. The new ‘Mikyung’ cultivar, with compact growth habit and unique flower shape with long red eyes, can be used as specimen plants for landscape designs.