Turks Cap Flower - Malvaviscus drummondii (M. arboreus var. drummondii)



Texas native flowering ornamental. Hails from a variety of habitats: sandy low grounds near streams, limestone slopes around wooded creeks and even palm groves provide fertile ground for turk's cap. It ranges from the Texas Coastal Plain, east to Florida and also to the West Indies, Mexico and Cuba. In the Valley it is evergreen, flowering year round, but farther north it will die to the ground as a herbaceous perennial in colder climates where it grows to a maximum of 4 by 4 feet. In its native habitat turk's cap is fairly large and coarse, having upright or somewhat reclining stems bearing 4- to 6-inch-diameter tomentose, dull green leaves. Its vermillion red flowers are twisted into a tube showing extended red stamens protruding from the whorl.