I have a friend who has a Hibiscus schizopetalus in his yard. He gave me two cuttings, one that definitely had a H. schizopetalus bloom on it, and another with no bloom. The one with no bloom turned out to be a red lion's tail hibiscus. I was waiting for the schizopetalus to bloom, and it did, but it looks nothing like a schizopetalus bloom. In fact, it looks like a lion's tail where the tail isn't hanging down, making it look like a triple red flower.

I'm absolutely sure this cutting did not have this kind of bloom, because it was stuck in the ground, and it had a typical schizopetalus bloom, which is why I said I wanted it. What could be going on with it? I'm so disappointed. I really wanted a schizopetalus, but began to think something might be wrong when the leaves started getting larger, not at all like the smaller schizopetalus leaves.

I'd appreciate any info you can give me as to parentage of these two that could explain why a cloned cutting has different blooms.

ETA: I found a site that says "lion's tail" is thought to be a cross of H. schizopetalus and an unknown parent, so maybe my friend's had just reverted back to its original parentage, but the cuttings are going back to the hybrid. Hibiscus are strange.