English: Sea hibiscus; Beach hibiscus; Coast hibiscus; Coastal hibiscus; Coast cottonwood; Coastal cottonwood; Green cottonwood; Native hibiscus; Native rosella; Cottonwood hibiscus; Sea rosemallow.
Synonym: Hibiscus tiliaceus.
French: Fleur de pūrau.
Names: Kurrajong; Balibago; Malabago; Balbago; Maribago; Waru; Baru; Bebaru; Pagu; Hau; Fau; Purau; Vau tree.
Genus: 21 species.
Region: Old World tropics, eastern and Northern Australia, Oceania, Maldives, South Asia, Southeast Asia; naturalized in Florida, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Hawaii.
Habitat: coastal, on beaches, by rivers, in mangrove swamps; elevations from sea level to 800 m, prefers copious annual rainfall; tolerates salt, waterlogging; grows in quartz sand, coral sand, marl, limestone, crushed basalt; prefers slightly acidic to alkaline soils.
Content: cyanidin-3-glucoside.
Use: wood for as seacraft construction, firewood, wood carvings, high quality furniture; fibers for rope; bark for cork, in sealing cracks in boats; bark and roots for cooling tea in fevers; young leafy shoots as vegetables; wood for spars, outrigger canoes, fishing net floats, adze handles, canoe floats; ornamental, bonsai; leaves for fermenting tempeh from soybeans.
BotanyTree; 4 to 10 m tall.
Stem: trunk up to 15 cm in diameter. The branches of the tree often curve over time; wood is easy to plane and turns well.
Leaves: heart shaped; deep red.
Flowers: bright yellow, with a deep red center, deepening to orange in the course of the day, finally red before they fall.