This is a neat photo. I'm familiar with several kinds of blooms in the Hibiscus family, but can't say I've ever paid attention to either the buds or pods. This is pretty cool, so hopefully I'll pay more attention when I'm exposed to some Hibiscus plants. I think sabdariffa may not be too common in my area, though.

I can't find my image of the opened blooms but this image shows a pink flower bud ready to open and also shows the calyx - the red part left after the blossom falls off. It's the red calyx that is used to make tea...after removing the seed pod which is inside the calyx.


This is my favorite video which shows how to easily remove the seed pod while keeping the calyx intact. (It's not in English.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

@greene That was such an interesting video. Our Hispanic DIL served us hibiscus tea several years ago and it was delicious.

We learned about the Jamaica Tea/Hibiscus sabdariffa Tea/Sorrel tea at our local plant swap.

The swap is hosted by Jane Fishman at her urban garden and one year Denzel gave Jane some seeds for something he called "sorrel" from his homeland in Jamaica. http://www.janefishman.net/201...

I notice that some of the Hibiscus sabdariffa have leaves which are different. Apparently there is more than one type; Denzel gave Jane the good one! This article has photos showing the leaf shape of two types. Hey, the leaves are edible. Wow, who knew?!!
https://plantfreak.wordpress.c...

@greene, That is a great photo! Check out these database photos of H. sabdariffa:

Yep, all great photos. Next time we grow these plants lets agree to take photos of the leaves so we can see the different shapes.