The flower of this evergreen flowering shrub native to East Asia is commonly called ‘hibiscus’ or ‘shoe flower’. Bearing large red flowers in the original variety, different varieties of the shrub with flowers varying in colour from white to shades of red are widely grown.

Cosmetic use

Flowers and leaves are commonly used in homemade hair conditioners and shampoos for their softening and conditioning effect on the hair. Mucilage from the flowers and leaves are used for preparation of hair oils due to their hair toning and darkening characteristic. Traditionally the mucilage is separated by crushing the flowers and leaves in a mortar along with water and squeezing the mass. The mucilage is then blended into coconut oil or sesame oil by heating. The hair oil is used also for dandruff control. Some baby shampoos and healing lotions also contain hibiscus leaves.

Fresh or dried flower petals are consumed as an herbal tea and are also an ingredient of several commercially available herbal tea mixes.

The principal constituents of H. rosa sinensis flowers are flavones such as quercetin-3-diglucoside, quercetin-3, 7-diglucoside, cyanidin-3, 5-diglucoside, quercetin-3-sophorotrioside, kaempferol-3 xylosyl glucoside, cyanidin-3-sophoroside-5-glucoside. The other constituents are cyclopeptide alkaloid, cyanidin chloride, hentriacontane, riboflavin, ascorbic acid, thiamine, taraxeryl acetate, beta-sitosterol and cyclic acids – sterculic and malvalic acids.