Hibiscus aethiopicus var. ovata

Hibiscus aethiopicus var. ovata, commonly the dwarf hibiscus or dwarf yellow hibiscus, is a low-growing perennial or sprawling, multistemmed shrublet growing soft annual stems to 30 cm in height from a woody rootstock.

The leaf-shape is variable, ovate to elliptic, tapering to a blunt or acute tip. The leaf margins are entire, slightly coarse, finely toothed or toothed. The stems and leaves are variably covered in bristly, star-shaped hairs. The lower leaf surfaces are hairier, hairs in picture visible along the leaf margins.

H. aethiopicus var. ovata is found in all South African provinces excluding the Northern Cape, the only one of the three varieties occurring in Gauteng where this photo was taken (on the Magaliesberg).

There are also var. aethiopicus distributed widely but more to the south and var. angustifolius, a narrow-leaved plant endemic to the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

The variable habitat of this variety is often grassland and open scrub. None of the three varieties is considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2009; Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; iNaturalist; www.redlist.sanbi.org).