A friend of mine offered to give me some cuttings from a plant she's been growing for 15 plus years, that she got when it was barely 4 inches high. She has no idea what it is. For some reason, it makes me think of hibiscus, even though the flowers don't much resemble the hibiscus I'm familiar with. Any idea?
It appears to be a Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, and like Barb said it is a double flower. I have no idea what cultivar it might be since it has become a very popular plant for cultivating in the last few years.
I agree with Barb and Toni and wanted to add that I think the plant and its flowers are just beautiful.
Hey Toni, I googled this so I could send a link to my friend for her info...she really wanted to know what the flower was after I told her I my gardening forum could tell me! But now I'm confused. What keeps coming up on google is just a regular hibiscus, which I'm familiar with...well, I mean the links say it's a "Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, known colloquially as Chinese hibiscus,[2]China rose,[2]Hawaiian hibiscus,[2] and shoeblackplant," etc., but the only image that comes up is a regular hibiscus. Link after link the images are the same...different colors, but the same single petaled plant, rather than layers of petals. Why is that?
The rosa-sinensis species includes both forms....single and double flowers. I don't know if they are so genetically alike that botanists have decided to keep them under the same species designation or if they just haven't gotten around to making them separate species but if you add double flower to your google search you will find more photos of them.
Have a look here Ronni and you'll see the doubles. https://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/doubles.htm