Variations in the morphology of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis crested peach flowers in nature

Abstract

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis has a wide variety of flowers. The variations even can be observed in one hybrid only. The hybrid is known as crested flower (double type I), one of four categories of H. rosa-sinensis flower shapes in nature. This study purpose was to categorize the variation in crested flowers based on morphological observation using 200 samples. The observations showed the form of crested peach could be divided into three groups: crested peach that resembles a single flower (crested single-like), which resembles a double flower (crested double-like), and a transitional between single-like and double-like flower (crested intermediate-like). Groupings are based on the length of the staminal column which measured at the closest distance between the corolla position and the additional stamen or petal. The length of the staminal column on a crested single-like is more than 4 cm (a > 4 cm), whereas the crested double-like is less than 1 cm (a < 1 cm), and the crested intermediate-like is 1–4 cm (1 ≤ a ≤ 4). Groupings are also reinforced by comparing the average number of staminodium petaloid, stamen-petal intermediate, and stamen. The crested single-like has a 1:2:2 ratio, the crested intermediate-like has a 2:1:1 ratio, while the crested double-liked has a 5:1:1 ratio. Of the total 200 crested samples used in the study, 89.5 % of them had intermediate-like forms, while 6.5 % were double-like, and 4 % single-like. It can be concluded that the real crested of H. rosa-sinensis is an intermediate-like form.