Abstract:This paper has a comprehensive summary on Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cultivars resources worldwide through investigation and literature review. The results show that until March 27, 2021, 22 347 cultivars of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis have been registered on the International Hibiscus Association, and the region with the largest number of recorded cultivars is the United States, while there are very few in the Chinese mainland. Secondly, a few cultivars were registered before 1960 while most were cultivated or discovered after 2002. Furthermore, the characters of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cultivars are quite different, and no systematic classification scheme has been proposed at home and abroad. Therefore, by clarifying the current situation of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cultivars resources at home and abroad, according to their characters, and combining the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants and “dual classification system”, the classification scheme of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cultivars according to flower types is discussed. The paper preliminarily established a classification scheme with petal edge characteristics as the first-level classification standard, petal type as the second-level standard, and flower shape as the third-level standard. According to the classification standard, 22 347 cultivars are divided into 12 groups.