Wisdom of Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis
Chinese hibiscus, Shoeblack plant, Hawaiian hibiscus, Tropical hibiscus, China rose, Rose of China are all names for what we commonly call Hibiscus or Shoeflower. It blooms in a variety of colours, orange, purple, peach, red, salmon, white, yellow and pink. It usually blooms around summer time and enjoys lots of sun.
It is an evergreen, hardy shrub that grows best in moist soils. It is a hermaphrodite, i.e. it has both male and female reproductive capacities, albeit it requires insects to pollinate it. In botanical terms this condition is called polyploidy. The side-effect of polyploidy is that the offspring has a possibility of looking nothing like the parent plant.
Hibiscus can be propagated through cuttings. It is preferable for the cutting to be from new growth or immature branches. These are usually greenish in colour.
Chinese hibiscus has a number of uses. Its tender leaves are sometimes used as a spinach substitute in cooking. The flowers it seems can be turned into pickle (source pfaf.org) or can also be used as a purple dye for colouring foods such as preserved fruits and cooked vegetables. The flowers are used in salads and even as shoe shine in parts of India. Probably it gets the name ‘Shoeflower’ from this use. The flower can be used as a ph indicator; it turns acidic substances purple and alkaline substances green. Even the root is edible but is very fibrous. The flowers are an aphrodisiac. The plant is considered as a cooling herb. For the most part however, it is considered an ornamental plant and is found mostly in Asia. The flowers, specially the red variety are used widely in the worship of Hindu devis, like Kali. It is also used in tantra. In Indonesia, the flowers are called kembang sepatu which literally translates as ‘shoe flower.’ In many places the flowers are dried and used to make tea.
Hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia and is locally called Bunga Raya. The red colour symbolizes the courage, life and rapid growth of the country; the 5 petals symbolize Rukun Negara which translates as ‘National Principles.’ It is the day on which Malayasian national philosophy was declared by royal proclamation in 1970. It has 5 principles:
1) To achieve more perfect unity amongst the whole of society
2) Preserving a democratic way of life
3) Creating a just society where the prosperity of the country can be enjoyed together in a fair and equitable manner
4) Guaranteeing a liberal approach towards her rich and varied cultural traditions
5) Building a progressive society that will make use of science and modern technology.
· The Hibiscus has a whole range of uses from adorning royalty as a National pride to being used humbly to shine shoes. This teaches us the importance of humility. Jesus continuously reminded his followers of the greatness that can be found in humility. If you want to be first, you should be last. There is nothing demeaning or undignified about menial jobs. If a national flower can be a shoe shiner, a Pope can be a servant and you and I can be assistant to those in need irrespective of their or our state in life.
· The Hibiscus is a polyploid. Although it has all the characteristics and capacities to self-propagate, it still requires insects. No matter how rich, talented, influential or authoritative one is, one always requires others to get things done and to meet one’s goals. Here again humility plays a key role but the focus lies on inter-dependence. No one is an island. We all need each other even though it might seem that we do not. We may be comfortable, secure and happy with the things we have but we need so many other people’s help and services to allow us to live secure and comfortable lives. Let us learn to be grateful to all those people from the farmers who grow our food to the vendors who sell it and from the people who collect our garbage to God who made it possible for life to develop and flourish on this planet.
