HIBISCUS, in botany, a genus of plants of the mallow fam ily (Malvaceae), many of which are popularly known as rose mallow. When broadly defined, the genus comprises about 200 species of herbs, shrubs and trees, native to temperate and tropi cal regions, but most abundant in the latter. They bear palmately veined, lobed or parted leaves and mostly bell-shaped, frequently very large, scarlet, pink, yellow or white flowers, with the parts, except the numerous stamens, usually in fives. A few species yield food and fibre products but in Great Britain and the United States they are grown chiefly for ornament. Representative economic species are H. esculentus (okra or gumbo) and H. tiliaceus, a tropical plant which yields a fibre. Among the best known ornamental species are H. syriacus (rose-of-Sharon or shrubby althea), H. Rosa-sinensis (rose-of-China or shoe-flower) and H. Trionum (flower-of-an-hour). The North American H. Moscheutos, one of the most popular rose-mallows in cultivation, is native to swamps near the coast from Massachusetts to Florida, and sparingly westward to Indiana and Missouri. (See FIBRES; MALVACEAE.)