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Common name: Lesser Mallow, दुपारी Dupari (Marathi), Baporis (Gujarati), नरेरी Nareri (Marathi), Lal-surgumini (Bengali)
Botanical name: Hibiscus hirtus Family: Malvaceae (mallow family)
Native to India, Lesser Mallow is a small tropical subshrub or perennial
which can grow upto
2 feet. It has extraordinary small, but beautiful, blooms for a Hibiscus.
The flowers are only 1-1.5 inch across, with five overlapping petals. Its
Marathi name Dupari (noon) come from the fact the flowers open fully
at noon. Seeds are cottony. Each flower's pod produces about 12-15 of these
seeds which have the ability to 'reseed' itself. Easy to grow.
| Photographed in Yogi Nursery, Delhi. |
Identification credit: Nandan Kalbag
This was a particularly difficult flower to identify. Several people
sent us identifications saying that it was some Hibiscus species, but they did
not know exactly which one.
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