Botany
Erect, branched bushy shrub or small tree, about 6- 10 feet high, densely covered with short, grayish stellate hairs. Leaves are broadly ovate to orbicular ovate, 5-lobed or 5-angled, 7 to 20 cm long, with pointed tip, heart-shaped base and toothed margins. Calyx is 3 to 4 cm long, with 5 oblong-ovate lobes, connate below. Corolla is 10 to 12 cm in diameter, single or double, opening pale pink or nearly white, growing darker in color as the day advances.

Distribution
Ornamental cultivation.

Chemical constituents and characteristics
Flowers are considered pectoral.
Considered expectorant, cooling, antidotal.
Study of the isolated five flavonol glycosides from the ethanol extract of petals.

Parts used
Leaves and flowers.

Uses
Folkloric
In China, flowers and leaves considered expectorant, colling, analgesic and antidote to all kinds of poison. Used for coughs, menorrhagia, dysuria and wounds, especially burns and scalds that are slow to heal.
Leaves are applied to swellings.
Infusion of flowers used for chest and pulmonary complaints.

Studies
• Antiproliferativev / Anti-HIV1 Reverse Transcriptase / Lectin: Study isolated a hexameric 150-kDa lectin from dried H mutabilis seeds. The galactonic acid-binding lectin potently inhibited HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. It also exhibited weak antiproliferative activity towards hepatoma HepG2 cells and breast cancer MCF-7 cells.
• Antioxidant: Study of the ethanol extracts of four medicinal plants, including Hibiscus mutabilis, showed dose-dependent NO scavenging activity.

Availability
Wild-crafted.
Cultivated.