Roselle Hibiscus Sabdariffa L
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Roselle Hibiscus sabdariffa L. • Description • Origin and Distribution • Varieties • Climate • Soil • Propagation • Culture • Harvesting • Yield • Pests and Diseases • Keeping Quality • Food Uses • Food Value • Other Uses True roselle is Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (family Malvaceae) and there are 2 main types. The more important economically is H. sabdariffa var. altissima Wester, an erect, sparsely-branched annual to 16 ft (4.8 m) high, which is cultivated for its jute-like fiber in India, the East Indies, Nigeria and to some extent in tropical America. The stems of this variety are green or red and the leaves are green, sometimes with red veins. Its flowers are yellow and calyces red or green, non- fleshy, spiny and not used for food. This type at times has been confused with kenaf, H. cannabinus L., a somewhat similar but more widely exploited fiber source. The other distinct type of roselle, H. sabdariffa var. sabdariffa, embraces shorter, bushy forms which have been described as races: bhagalpuriensi, intermedius, albus, and ruber, all breeding true from seed. The first has green, red-streaked, inedible calyces; the second and third have yellow-green edible calyces and also yield fiber. We are dealing here primarily with the race ruber and its named cultivars with edible calyces; secondarily, the green-fruited strains which have similar uses and which may belong to race albus. Vernacular names, in addition to roselle, in English-speaking regions are rozelle, sorrel, red sorrel, Jamaica sorrel, Indian sorrel, Guinea sorrel, sour-sour, Queensland jelly plant, jelly okra, lemon bush, and Florida cranberry. In French, roselle is called oseille rouge, or oseille de Guinée; in Spanish, quimbombó chino, sereni, rosa de Jamaica, flor de Jamaica, Jamaica, agria, agrio de Guinea, quetmia ácida, viña andviñuela; in Portuguese, vinagreira, azeda de Guiné, cururú azédo, and quiabeiro azédo; in Dutch (Surinam), zuring. In North Africa and the Near East roselle is called karkadé or carcadé and it is known by these names in the pharmaceutical and food-flavoring trades in Europe. In Senegal, the common name is bisap. The names flor de Jamaica and hibiscus flores (the latter employed by "health food" vendors), are misleading because the calyces are sold, not the Plate XXXVI: ROSELLE, Hibiscus sabdariffa flowers. Description H. sabdariffa var. sabdariffa race ruber is an annual, erect, bushy, herbaceous subshrub to 8 ft (2.4 m) tall, with smooth or nearly smooth, cylindrical, typically red stems. The leaves are alternate, 3 to 5 in (7.5-12.5 cm) long, green with reddish veins and long or short petioles. Leaves of young seedlings and upper leaves of older plants are simple; lower leaves are deeply 3- to 5- or even 7-lobed; the margins are toothed. Flowers, borne singly in the leaf axils, are up to 5 in (12.5 cm) wide, yellow or buff with a rose or maroon eye, and turn pink as they wither at the end of the day. At this time, the typically red calyx, consisting of 5 large sepals with a collar (epicalyx) of 8 to 12 slim, pointed bracts (or bracteoles) around the base, begins to enlarge, becomes fleshy, crisp but juicy, 1 1/4 to 2 1/4 in (3.2-5.7 cm) long and fully encloses the velvety capsule, 1/2 to 3/4 in (1.25-2 cm) long, which is green when immature, 5-valved, with each valve containing 3 to 4 kidney- shaped, light-brown seeds, 1/8 to 3/16 in (3-5 mm) long and minutely downy. The capsule turns brown and splits open when mature and dry. The calyx, stems and leaves are acid and closely resemble the cranberry (Vaccinium spp.) in flavor. A minor ornamental in Florida and elsewhere is the red-leaf hibiscus, H. acetosella Welw. (syn. H. eetveldeanus Wildem. & Th.) of tropical Africa, which has red stems to 8 ft (2.4 m) high, 5-lobed, red or bronze leaves, and mauve, or red- striped yellow, flowers with a dark-red eye, succeeded by a hairy seed pod enclosed in a red, ribbed calyx bearing a basal fringe of slender, forked bracts. This plant has been often confused with roselle, though its calyx is not fleshy and only the young leaves are used for culinary purposes–usually cooked with rice or vegetables because of their acid flavor. Origin and Distribution Roselle is native from India to Malaysia, where it is commonly cultivated, and must have been carried at an early date to Africa. It has been widely distributed in the Tropics and Subtropics of both hemispheres, and in many areas of the West Indies and Central America has become naturalized. The Flemish botanist, M. de L'Obel, Fig. 79: Seedpods of roselle (Hibiscus published his observations of the plant sabdariffa),enclosed in their red, fleshy, acid calyces, are piled high in the markets of Panama in January. in 1576, and the edibility of the leaves was recorded in Java in 1687. Seeds are said to have been brought to the New World by African slaves. Roselle was grown in Brazil in the 17th Century and in Jamaica in 1707. The plant was being cultivated for food use in Guatemala before 1840. J.N. Rose, in 1899, saw large baskets of dried calyces in the markets of Guadalajara, Mexico. In 1892, there were 2 factories producing roselle jam in Queensland, Australia, and exporting considerable quantities to Europe. This was a short-lived enterprise. In 1909, there were no more than 4 acres (1.6 ha) of edible roselle in Queensland. A Mr. Neustadt of San Francisco imported seeds from Australia about 1895 and shared them with the California State Agricultural Experiment Station for test plantings and subsequent seed distribution. It was probably about the same time that Australian seeds reached Hawaii. In 1904, the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station received seeds from Puerto Rico. In 1913 there was much interest in interplanting roselle with Ceara rubber(Manihot glaziovii Muell. Arg.) on the island of Maui and there were some plantations established also on the island of Hawaii, altogether totaling over 200 acres (81 ha). The anticipated jelly industry failed to materialize and promotional efforts were abandoned by 1929. P.J. Wester believed that roselle was brought to Florida from Jamaica about 1887. Plants were grown by Dr. H.J. Webber at the United States Department of Agriculture's Subtropical Laboratory at Eustis, Florida, in the early 1890's, but all the roselle was killed there by a severe freeze in 1895. Cook and Collins reported that roselle was commonly cultivated in southern Florida in 1903. In 1904, Wester acquired seeds from Mr. W.A. Hobbs of Coconut Grove and planted them at the United States Department of Agriculture's Subtropical Garden in Miami. He was enthusiastic about roselle's potential as a southern substitute for the cranberry. In 1907, he stated that the fresh calyces were being sold by the quart in South Florida markets. He introduced 3 edible cultivars into the Philippines in 1905. In 1920, he declared: "No plant that has ever been brought into the Philippines is more at home and few grow with so little care as the roselle, or are so productive. Still, like so many other new introductions, the roselle has been slow to gain hold in the popular taste though here and there it is now found in the provincial markets. " In 1928, Paul C. Standley wrote: "roselle ... is grown in large quantities in Panama, especially by the West Indians. So much of the plant is seen in the markets and on the roads that one would think the market oversupplied." This situation has not changed. I saw great quantities of the whole fruits and the calyces in Panama markets in January of 1976. Roselle became and remained a common home garden crop throughout southern and central Florida until after World War II when this area began to develop rapidly and home gardening and preserving declined. Mrs. Edith Trebell of Estero, Florida, was one of the last remaining suppliers of roselle jelly. In February, 1961, I purchased the last 2 jars made from the small crop salvaged following the 1960 hurricane and before frost killed all her plants. In 1954, roselle was still being grown by individuals in the Midwest for its edible herbage. By 1959 and 1960, when there was widespread alarm concerning coal-tar food dyes, it was easy to arouse interest in roselle as a coloring source but difficult to obtain seeds in Florida. At that time, I purchased them from Gleckler's Seedsmen in Metamora, Ohio. Roselle had by then become nearly extinct in Puerto Rico also. From time to time over the next dozen years I was able to obtain a few seeds from old timers in Central Florida. In 1973, roselle was featured in the catalog of John Brudy's Rare Plant House, Cocoa Beach (now John Brudy Exotics, Brandon, Florida and no longer listing the seed). Reasoner's Tropical Nurseries in Bradenton was selling plants in containers and giving to purchasers a sheet of recipes. From Lawrence Adams of Arcadia, I obtained seeds which came from the Virgin Islands where this particular strain is said to mature its fruit a month early. These seeds and seeds purchased by John G. Dupuis, Jr., from Brudy were the basis of a large planting at DuPuis' Bar D Ranch in Martin County. Many packets of seeds were distributed to home growers during the following winter. Today, roselle is attracting the attention of food and beverage manufacturers and pharmaceutical concerns who feel it may have exploitable possibilities as a natural food product and as a colorant to replace some synthetic dyes.