Malvaviscus penduliflorus

Native from Texas through Mexico and Central America to Venezuela and Peru, this plant is a shrub or small tree of seasonally dry tropical regions. Its flowers hang downward, with overlapping petals that remain partly closed rather than opening flat. The pendant flowers are about two and a half inches long, roughly twice the length of those of Malvaviscus arboreus. Red flowers are usual, while pink and white forms are also cultivated. Photographed in the central Andes mountain range of Colombia.