Laminated Specimen - Leaf 

Real Shoe Flower - Hibiscus rosa-sinensis leaf specimen laminated in clear plastic sheet. The specimen is clear, transparent and indestructible. Safe, authentic and completely unbreakable product put the leaf right at your fingertips! Anyone can safely explore the leaf from both sides.

Size of the Leaf is about 110x80 mm (4.3x3.1 inch).

Size of the lamination sheet is 160x110 mm (6.3x4.3 inch).

This is a handmade real animal specimen craft. Each one will be a bit different (specimen size, color and posture) even in the same production batch.

The pictures in the listing are just for reference as we are selling multiple pieces with same pictures.

***

Shoe Flower - Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Order: Malvales  Family: Malvaceae  Genus: Hibiscus  Species: H. rosa-sinensis

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn. (family Malvaceae), known colloquially as the Chinese hibiscus, is an evergreen flowering shrub native to East Asia. It is also known as China rose and shoe flower.

It is widely grown as an ornamental plant throughout the tropics and subtropics. The flowers are large, generally red in the original varieties, and firm, but generally lack any scent. Numerous varieties, cultivars, and hybrids are available, with flower colors ranging from white through yellow and orange to scarlet and shades of pink, with both single and double sets of petals. Despite their size and red hues attractive to nectar-feeding birds, they are not visited regularly by hummingbirds when grown in the Neotropics. Generalists, like the Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Amazilia lactea, or long-billed species, like the Stripe-breasted Starthroat, Heliomaster squamosus, are occasionally seen to visit it, however. In the subtropical and temperate Americas, hummingbirds are attracted to them on a regular basis.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is the national flower of Malaysia, called Bunga Raya in Malay.

Hibiscus flower preparations are used for hair care. The flowers themselves are edible and are used in salads in the Pacific Islands. The flowers are used to shine shoes in parts of India.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is one of many plant genera with a genetic characteristic known as polyploidy, in which the number of chromosomes is far greater than the two ("x" and "y"), unlike most other species including human. Polyploidy is a condition where the genetic characteristics of the offspring may be quite different from the parent, or indeed any ancestor, essentially allowing possibly random expression of all (or any) of the characteristics of all the generations that have gone before. Because of this characteristic, H. rosa-sinensis has become popular with hobbyists who cross and recross varieties, creating new named varieties and holding competitions to exhibit and judge the many resulting new seedlings and often strikingly unique flowers.

Often the progeny of these crosses are sterile, but some are fertile, further increasing the complexity of variability and the possibility of a virtually unlimited number of eventual Hibiscus rosa-sinensis varieties. This further attracts the hobbyists, who have created local and international associations, societies, publications, and manuals to further this hobby, which is practiced with these tropical plants worldwide, including indoors in cold climates.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is one of many plant genera with a genetic characteristic known as polyploidy, in which the number of chromosomes is far greater than the two ("x" and "y"), unlike most other species including human. Polyploidy is a condition where the genetic characteristics of the offspring may be quite different from the parent, or indeed any ancestor, essentially allowing possibly random expression of all (or any) of the characteristics of all the generations that have gone before. Because of this characteristic, H. rosa-sinensis has become popular with hobbyists who cross and recross varieties, creating new named varieties and holding competitions to exhibit and judge the many resulting new seedlings and often strikingly unique flowers.

Often the progeny of these crosses are sterile, but some are fertile, further increasing the complexity of variability and the possibility of a virtually unlimited number of eventual Hibiscus rosa-sinensis varieties. This further attracts the hobbyists, who have created local and international associations, societies, publications, and manuals to further this hobby, which is practiced with these tropical plants worldwide, including indoors in cold climates.