What kind of flower is this?

[slpollett]

Does anyone know what kind of flower this is? Sorry, no contest or anything...I just thought it was pretty and would like to know what it is (other than a pretty red flower, that is!:D ).

Thanks in advance!

Sherry

http://psphotos.smugmug.com/photos/289533248_TS8A9-M.jpg

[Cuong]

Looks like a Hibiscus. There are a couple hundred species in the Hibiscus genus. Not sure which species this one is.

Cuong

[gus]

It certainly is a hibiscus (http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=Hibiscus&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi) ...almost classed as a weed around my part of the world.

[slpollett]

Thanks Cuong and Gus. I 'thought' it looked similar to hibiscus, but I took other pictures of hibiscus that looked like this:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/kristakp/Moody%20Gardens/MoodyGardens9.jpg

I figured this one had to be something different.

Anyway, I followed Gus' link and looked at many pages of hibiscus photos before I found one that looked like the first picture I posted in this thread. I now know that this flower is a hibiscus coccineus, commonly known as a 'Scarlet Rose Mallow.'

I don't see hibiscus where I live. I took these pictures at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas last year.

Thanks again,
Sherry