Red & White Marble Colored Hibiscus Mutabilis (Confederate Rose) 源平咲きの酔芙蓉

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

They're hibiscus mutabilis or more commonly known as Confederate rose. I pass by the tree almost everyday but didn't notice until yesterday that the tree had white, red and marble-colored flowers like these. They were about to die. I wished I had noticed them earlier....

I've seen peach, Japanese apricot, and lespedeza having white, pink/red, and marble-colored flowers on the same tree, but didn't expect the same for hibiscuses. 

So, the question is why red and white color flowers are on the same tree? I googled when seeing a Japanese apricot tree with two colored flowers for the first time and learned that scientifically, there's no white flower trees, but the red flower trees have white flowers when they cannot produce enough anthocyanins to make flowers red. The same thing may have happened to this hibiscus tree. 

If you want to see peach, Japanese apricot, or lespedeza having white, pink/red or marble-colored flowers on the same tree, read the following posts: 

- Red & White Marble Colored Flowering Peach

- Half & Half Colored Japanese Apricot (White & Pink)!

- Lespedeza Japonica Bailey cv. Versicolor (Variegated Bush Clover)

Hibiscus mutabilis 酔芙蓉

Confederate rose with white and red flowers 源平咲き酔芙蓉

(If you wish to post your comment but don't have a Google account, select "anonymous" from the drop down menu titled "comment as"!)

酔芙蓉です。毎日前を通っていたのに源平咲きしていることに全く気付きませんでした｡｡｡

桃、梅、萩の源平咲きは見たことあるのですが、酔芙蓉も源平咲きするとは！以前梅について調べたのですが、白い梅の花の木はなく、紅い梅の花の木に白い花が咲くだけとのこと。赤い色はアントシアニンという色素から作られるのですが、アントシアニンを作るには多くの酵素が必要で、この酵素が一つでもうまく働かなくないと赤くなれず、白のままになってしまうそうです。酔芙蓉も同じ理由かな｡｡｡？

桃、梅、萩の源平咲きにご興味ある方は下の記事をどうぞ！

- 源平枝垂れ花桃（ゲンペイシダレハナモモ）

- 白とピンクのハーフ＆ハーフの梅？

- 染め分け萩（ソメワケハギ）

(Google アカウントを持ってない方は、コメント記入後に「Google アカウント」をクリックし、「匿名」か「名前/URL」を選択してからご記入ください！)