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Hibiscus acetosella
Malvaceae FAMILY

Hibiscus acetosella

Hibiscus acetosella

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual/Perennial
Growth—

Hibiscus acetosella is found over a large area of tropical Africa, usually being grown at low to moderate elevations. It can also be grown as an annual in warm temperate areas. It grows best in areas with good rainfall[1]. Succeeds in a sunny position, but prefers some shade[1]. Prefers a well-drained humus rich fertile soil[2]. There are some named varieties[2]. Plants are resistant to root-knot nematodes[3].

Propagation

Seed - sow early spring in a warm greenhouse. Germination is usually quite rapid. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out into their permanent positions in early summer. Give them some protection until they are growing away well. A sowing outdoors in situ during mid spring might work, though if the summer is cool the plants might not flower and set seed. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Hibiscus+acetosella>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Edible Leaves of the Tropics — Martin. F. W.; Ruberte. R. M. & Meitzner. L. S. · Echo. USA. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9653360-1-8 ↩︎A terse guide, giving reasonable detail on the more common leaf crops and brief information on a wide range of lesser known plants.
  4. [4]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
  5. [5]Revision of Hibiscus section Furcaria (Malvaceae) in Africa and Asia — Wilson F.D. · 1999 ↩︎
  6. [6]Flora Zambesiaca — http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html ↩︎An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
  7. [7]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  8. [8]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  9. [9]Wild Food in Australia. — Cribb. A. B. and J. W. · Fontana · 1976 · ISBN 0-00-634436-4 ↩︎A very good pocket guide.
  10. [10]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.