This thread is about a species native to my area I have been studying since spring 2023. I’m considering it for my own consumption as well as possibly offering it as seed or a nursery plant. As of May 2024, all signs are positive that this will be a good addition to my garden, but these it’s still undecided.
Hibiscus moscheutos, the swamp rose mallow, can be found growing wild or feral in the damp floodplains of the valleys within 4 or 5 miles of our farm in Eastern Kentucky. These areas along the creeks in the valleys/hollows/hollers are also the places in this region where people have built homes and farmed for thousands of years. So there are often wild populations growing near modern homes.
To my knowledge people here do not plant it as a crop or forage it. Sometimes there are what I assume are ornamental cultivars that are close to modern houses, but the wild populations I have found all seem to have relatively consistent characteristics like size, habit, and flower color.
It can’t be found in every valley, but I have found similar populations dotted here and there across an area of 100 miles.
According to many sources, and reflected in the Wikipedia article, the edible parts of the plant include its leaf buds and young leaves, flowers, immature seed pods (which can be prepared as okra), seeds, and roots.
The leaves and roots are known to contain mucilage. Tea from boiled leaves has been used to relieve cough, sore throat, and digestive inflammation. These medicinal attributes of the tea have been used to treat dysentery, lung ailments, and urinary infections. An infusion of dried stalks has been used to treat bladder infections. Hibiscus moscheutos flowers have also been used externally to reduce swelling and pain from bruises and insect stings.
I’m very interested in talking with other growers, and sharing seeds for this plant.
Thus far I have made small tests of eating the leaves, buds, and flowers. All of those experiences were positive.
This year I am focusing on bringing this plant to my own farm, where I couldn’t find any growing. I am growing some from seed, and soon I plan to take cuttings of the shoots from wild plants to experiment with rooting them.
This is a very common ornamental plant in the nursery industry.
Really cool that you have such large wild populations. It’s already adapted to your area and you will have more genetic diversity for selecting any edible/medicinal preferences for growth as a crop.
It would be very interesting to see a hybrid between this and Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)
One of the reasons I’m so interested in this species is how sturdy it seems to be. Yesterday I revisited one of the wild populations that is easiest to reach, because it is growing in a ditch along a highway.
Last September, this area was full of 6-8 foot tall Hibiscus stalks covered with flowers when it was mowed down. That was at least a month before the first frost, a time when I assume being mowed to the ground would be harmful.
As you may see in the first three photos with this post, vigorous new shoots are coming up through the grass and other weedy roadside plants. This particular location is mowed to the ground at least once per season, and there is a good chance it is sprayed by herbicide occasionally.
This final photo is taken at our farm – it is a planting I had forgotten about! After the wild patch was mowed down in September, I transplanted a 10-inch section of roots to this site at my place. Because this was on the spur of the moment, I found a location with the right conditions but it was infested with a difficult invasive grass and I didn’t do anything to fight the grass.
That grass is very effective at suppressing other plants. Now that I have seen this haphazard transplant survive next to the grass, I’m even more excited about swamp rose mallow than before.
Ooh very interesting. It is native here too (although I’ve had a bit of trouble getting it established in a garden setting) but I had not considered eating the pods as okra.
The interesting Hibiscus moscheutos cultivars in the flower trade are mostly interspecies hybrids with Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon) - the two species cross pollinate easily. Im not sure how this affects edibility, just something to consider.
After @JinTX mentioned Roselle, I started to look into the academic literature regarding interspecific crosses. I didn’t see anyone crossing Swamp Rose Mallow with Roselle, but there are documented interspecific crosses involving both of those species so I feel optimistic that it would be possible. Crosses between species with different chromosome counts and ploidy levels seem to be relatively common in Hibiscus.
Like Rose of Sharon/Hibiscus syriacus, Roselle/Hibiscus sabdariffa has a different ploidy and chromosome count than Swamp Rose Mallow. For what it’s worth, Roselle and Rose of Sharon don’t have the same count as each other.
Swamp Rose Mallow is diploid, and both Rose of Sharon and Roselle are usually tetraploid. If I understood what I read, a hypothetical successful cross with either of those other species would be triploid. That triploid would not be consistently fertile, it would need one more generation of guided pollination to reach a stable, polyploid set of chromosomes.
Roselle has an atypical self-pollinating flower morphology and may only be viable as the pollen source for an interspecific cross. I believe that Rose of Sharon has a more typical hibiscus flower type.
Interspecific hibiscus crosses have been successfully made at universities at the scale of 50-100 manual pollinations. Two sources noted that it is useful to have several individual parents of both species; successful pollination rates differed between mother plants of the same variety. I got the impression that a dozen plants of each species would be enough to conduct a trial assuming multiple flowers were pollinated per plant.
I will plan to add links to some of this research in future updates to the thread. I’m grateful that I have already had input from other people familiar with the genus, thank you!
Identifying ornamental cultivars
The presumably ornamental H. moscheutos plants I have seen near houses often have papery flaps along the vertices of the seed pod. I have not tested any pods like that, but they look less appetizing. (I’'m hardly an expert on okra though!)
The types I’m calling ornamental are shorter and have more slender stalks that bow over more than the wild type. They have flowers in different colors than the wild populations.
This wild patch is almost ready to start producing. I really enjoy seeing the plants emerge from difficult conditions and competition from other species.
This patch is being encroached by kudzu. I suspect that may be too much for the hibiscus, but time will tell.
More Positive than Okra? Forager Samuel Thayer had a Page on Rose Mallow, It’s a decently edible species.
I’ve foraged for seeds of this plant, if you need some more genetics, We could trade! I found Pink & White Flower forms. Petals are mildly delicious snack.
MIND BLOWN! That’s epic! This super excites me as I like the taste of both species.
Aparently Okra fits within Hibiscus genus!? Yea check out this phylogenic tree
Awesome! Chop & Drop Kudzu sounds fun! Have you tried eating the leaves? I’ve heard only the tender leaves are any good but the flowers are delicious. Wish I had Kudzu growing near me (Apparently is phylogenically close to Soybeans? Same Tribe).
Reflecting on the process of learning to identify these plants
Last year I invested substantial time learning to identify Hibiscus moscheutos and putting it into practice. That included making repeat visits to wild populations when possible to observe through the year, and logging some into iNaturalist.
Over the winter I began to educate myself on other species and the literature on hibiscus breeding. It’s been fun and rewarding to revisit some of the nearest wild populations this year with fresh eyes.
This season now clearly see at least two different types of ‘moscheutos’ among the nearby populations. (And now in my garden)
The most common type has rounded, cordate leaves. I have seen it growing 8-10 feet tall. They leaves are not glossy and are fairly fiberous. There may be a small amount of red in the leaf veins or petioles.
Eating the leaves
These leaves are not palatable as salad greens or cooked greens due to their texture. The flavor can be potent in a way that suggests seasoning possibilities, and the flavor may improve and balance with some cooking based on my experiments so far. I have seen references in spanish-language recipes for processing roselle leaves and stewing them for a long time, which seems promising.
The other type doesn’t grow as tall maybe 6-7 feet. It has mostly lobed leaves that are somewhat glossy. Red leaf veins and red petioles are common.
Eating the leaves
These leaves are much less fiberous, and have a mild flavor. The young leaves may even be good for salad.
I believe wonder if these may be the difference between Hibiscus moscheutos and H. palustris (aka H. moscheutos subsp. paulstris). Palustris is the name for a more northern type of Hibuscus that is still closely related to the southern moscheutos.
Alternately, I may be seeing escaped hybrids or natural, spontaneous hybrids. Rose of Sharon and other hibiscus are common in gardens in this area.
Final thoughts
Time is a limiting factor. I could be doing more cooking with them this year than I have so far. I must definitely cook pods, hopefully from both types.
@markwkidd FANTASTIC RESEARCH! I LOVE seeing this! Yea mostly for Rose mallows, it’s only the Most Tender young leaves that are edible (But Malva neglecta & Hollyhock (Alcea spp.) are much more nicer). The Older Leaves are way too fibrous to enjoy.
Here’s what Samuel Thayer’s new Book said about Swamp Rose Mallows
These notes on when to harvest the pods are very timely and helpful, thank you.
The difference in the leaves was remarkable between the two types.
Even the youngest leaves of the cordate type are tough fresh and after sautee (I think the recipe for Roselle leaves involved dicing or mincing them and then cooking for a long time)
That being said, there was an interesting flavor that improved with cooking.
Interesting, your observation is valuable to me breeding efforts. Probably be a good idea to select against that, to have better tasting leaves. which species has better tasting fllowers & flower buds. Oh by the way Roselle seems to be in a another subgenus of hibiscus, It’s unlikely they can cross but I’d be interested if they do!
Interesting flavor? Are they better than Hollyhock or Mallow leaves? I find mallow leaves significantly better.
These flowers have not yet been fertilized, so I did help myself to a few flower buds as a raw snack. They were pretty good that way, with very little fiber. I did find myself wanting to spit out a little bit of pith at the end.
I can imagine cooking these flower buds. It might work to roast them like brussels sprouts. Probably someone has come up with culinary ideas for them already.
Interesting, this pith at the end is inside, or just the end tip where it snapped off the plant?
I find it interesting you say very little fiber? Does that make them better than even Okra?
Like Brussel sprouts? WHOA, but aren’t they mucilaginous (Slimy texture) like okra? When were these taken? I might go check my plants to see if they are ready.
Some wild populations here are already setting pods, others have not yet started blooming. I think they all generally have buds at this point at least.
The pods are just coming in at this patch I revisited. The okra pods are tasty raw, and have a better raw consistency than the buds.
I’m not able to get to the majority of these plants to gather enough to cook. But I enjoyed a handful on site, enough to feel very optimistic about this project.
I have not had time to further explore the question of the pith. I’m hoping to spend more time munching on buds while it’s still seasonal. I couldn’t find anywhere to bite the raw buds where I didn’t get pith, but a more thorough exploration is definitely in order. And I wonder if this might vary from one population or type to another.
We have rose of sharon all over our place (planted by previous owners) that I’d like to have a go at using as a rootstock for this species and culinary Malvaceae.
I have grown very fond of rose of sharon and do use it lightly for food and medicine, and it is beloved by pollinators, but it is invasive as all get out. I would feel better if we could convert a lot of it of it to a native alternative without doing something drastic.
I managed to try my local rose mallow Flower buds raw, not bad but could use cooking. Will give the early fruit pods a try next when they appear. I left the base of the bud but only ate the top part where the enclosed petals are.
Do the buds taste better in Rose of sharon or worse compared to Rose mallow?
