Its ruby red color is alluring; its flavor, lemony-tart and berry-rich. It’s not cranberry or pomegranate, but hibiscus. And judging by its appearance in supermarkets, restaurants and bars, it’s a flavor darling.

OOBA bottled sparkling beverages offer hibiscus solo, with lime, with orange. Chefs do hibiscus-poached rhubarb. Rain Organics Vodka comes in red grape-hibiscus. Gran Centenario flavors its Rosangel tequila with it. Big Bowl restaurants now sell their popular oolong-hibiscus tea by the canister. And from Australia come buds in syrup called Wild Hibiscus.

The ruby red beverage made from hibiscus sabdariffa has long refreshed folks from Africa to Latin America and the Caribbean, where it can be called bissap or agua de Jamaica or sorrel.

The “hibiscus” listed on labels of the newer products, is not necessarily the exact same plant as the one growing in your backyard, says Kyle Wallick, a botanist with the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. “The scientific name is hibiscus sabdariffa,” he said.

What’s used to brew the teas and make the beverages is the part called the calyx, or “the outer shell of the flower. They turn red and are kind of fleshy, and they have sort of a sour, lemonade-y taste.”