Leaves: the leaves of the first plant are alternate, showing a triangular shape of lobes with small, irregular serrations at the edges. The leaves of the second plant are rhombic or ovate, and the base is wedge-shaped.
Flowers: maybe the difference between leaves is not very beautiful. Let's see their flowers. The former has smaller flowers with five petals, while the latter has larger flowers with bell shaped and solitary flowers. There are also some differences in their colors. The first kind of plant has a single color. Generally speaking, there are only pink and pink. Another kind of plant's color then is rich some, has the pure white, the pink, the light purple, the purple red and so on.
They have different aliases. The first one is called exquisite hibiscus, mini hibiscus, jade exquisite, etc.; the second one is called kapok, Jingtiao, etc. (I think it's also the nickname of little Hibiscus).
The first is the South African anemone, the small Hibiscus family, and the second is the hibiscus family. This may be the most fundamental difference between them. After all, the different species and genera determine that they have different properties.
Let's start with their respective origins. Although they are all originated from the tropical or subtropical regions of the African continent, their distribution areas are different after they are introduced into our country. The first kind of distribution area is mainly in Shandong Province, Zhejiang Province and Anhui Province, while the second kind of plant is much more widely distributed, not only in the northeast and northwest, but also in almost all provinces and cities, not to be listed here.
