No. 0958 · Hibiscus sabdariffa
Ruby Roselle
- Crop
- Flower
- Climate
- Tropical
- Season
- Autumn
- Origin
- St. Elizabeth, Jamaica
No. 0958The variety
A hibiscus grown for its fleshy ruby calyces, steeped with ginger every Christmas into the drink called sorrel.
Grows best inHeat and shortening autumn days
Seed passport
Perennial Seed Library · Season 2026
- Origin
- St. Elizabeth, Jamaica
- First documented
- 1963
- Days to maturity
- 150 to 170 days
- Height
- 1.5 to 2 m
- Hardiness
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 1 m
- Flavor notes
- Tart, cranberry-bright and floral
No. 0958Growth timeline
From sowing to saving seed.
Stage 01 of 06
No. 0958Story
The story of Ruby Roselle
Roselle flowers only as the days shorten, which in Jamaica means it ripens just before Christmas, when its fleshy red calyces are steeped with ginger, cloves and sugar into the deep red drink called sorrel. Ruby Roselle has unusually large, glossy calyces and a tartness that cooks prize.
A family in St. Elizabeth parish has saved it since 1963. Outside the tropics it needs a long season and a warm autumn, and growers in the north sometimes give it a greenhouse for its final weeks.
Grown by
3 growers this season
Abena Atinga
Bolgatanga, Ghana
Priya Nair
Thrissur, Kerala, India
Luzviminda Agbayani
Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Lending list · Season 2026
Borrow this seed.
Members borrow up to twelve varieties a year. Seed is posted on the first Monday of the month in a hand-numbered paper packet, and all we ask in return is a little of your harvest and a few lines about how it grew.