Roselle

Description

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a species of flowering plant in the genus Hibiscus that is native to Africa, most likely West Africa. In the 16th and early 17th centuries it was spread to the West Indies and Asia, respectively, where it has since become naturalized in many places. The stems are used for the production of bast fibre and the dried cranberry tasting calyces are commonly steeped to make a popular infusion known as carcade. Roselle is an annual or perennial herb or woody-based subshrub, growing to 2-2.5 m (7-8 ft) tall. The leaves are deeply three- to five-lobed, 8-15 cm (3-6 in) long, arranged alternately on the stems. The flowers are 8-10 cm (3-4 in) in diameter, white to pale yellow with a dark red spot at the base of each petal, and have a stout, conspicuous calyx at the base, 1-2 cm (0.39-0.79 in) wide, enlarging to 3–3.5 cm (1.2-1.4 in) and becoming fleshy and a deep crimson red as the fruit matures, which takes about six months. Conventional hybridization is difficult to carry out in roselle due to its cleistogamous nature of reproduction. Because of this, a mutation breeding programme was initiated to generate new genetic variability. The use of induced mutations for its improvement was initiated in 1999 in cooperation with MINT (now called Malaysian Nuclear Agency) and has produced some promising breeding lines. Roselle is a tetraploid species; thus, segregating populations require longer time to achieve fixation as compared to diploid species.These new varieties were developed using Arab as the parent variety in a mutation breeding programme which started in 2006. Roselle is known as Pundi Palle / Pundi Soppu in Kannada, Hoilfa in Sylheti and Chukur, Amlamadhur in Bengali. Also known as Tengamora by various indigenous ethnic groups of Assam, dachang or datchang by Atongs, mwita among the Bodo(another native ethnicity of Assam), amile among Chakmas mostly in Chittagong, Gal•da among Garos, Hanserong among Karbi (an indigenous group of Asaam), among Lotha of Nagaland Hantserup, mathippuli and pulivenda in Malayalam, ambadi in Maharashtra, okhreo among Maos, sillo sougri among Meitei, (belchanda) among Nepalese, and khata palanga Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack districts and takabhendi in Odia in the Balasore district of Odisha, pulicha keerai in Tamil and gongura in Telugu. Anthur Sen(roselle red) or Lakher Anthur in Mizo, Hmiakhu Saipa(roselle red) or Matu Hmiakhu in Mara in Mizoram, India and Chin State, Myanmar.