Hibiscus aethiopicus var. ovatus flower maybe

This pale cream Hibiscus flower accompanying long bare, sparsely branched stems and a very narrow leaf or two high up enough to make the photo, is thought to be Hibiscus aethiopicus var. ovatus. The flower was encountered in the Kouga, Eastern Cape. Its close neighbours in picture include Crassula perforata.

The five mostly wedge-shaped petals forming the shallow corolla bowl overlap clockwise, the direction not seeming to make a difference in the identification of this plant. Petal colour matches some of the H. aethiopicus plant photos compared, and also some H. pusillus photos, but the H. aridus photos found in iNaturalist, also expected to grow in the Kouga like the other two, never presented petals this pale.

The staminal column from which the numerous short stamens protrude sideways, is very pale compared to photos in iNaturalist of all the mentioned species. The five rounded, purple red stigmas on the diverging style branches at the top of the staminal column match stigma colours of all three species, but all three species also have plants bearing white stigmas.

So, H. aethiopicus var. ovatus is the contention here, on balance of available photographic evidence. No lower down leaves were captured in picture and the stop on the dirt road through the Kouga Valley where the picture was taken is forgotten. The flowering season is surely over by now, but could return next April, if the plant still lives, don’t ask what year. Have fun (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist).