MALVACEAE

MALLOW FAMILY

Steven R. Hill, except as specified

Annual, perennial herb, shrubs, trees, generally stellate-hairy; juice sticky; inner bark tough, fibrous
Leaves alternate, simple, petioled; blade generally palmately veined or lobed, stipules present
Inflorescence often leafy; whorl or involucre of bractlets often subtending calyx
Flower generally bisexual, radial; calyx lobes 5, margins abutting in bud; petals 5, free (fused at base to filament tube, so falling together); stamens many, filaments fused into a tube surrounding style, tube fused in turn to petal bases; pistil 1, ovary superior, chambers generally 5 or more, style branches, stigmas generally 1 or 2 X as many as chambers
Fruit of 5–many disk- or wedge-shaped segments, loculicidal capsule, or berry
Genera in family: 100 genera, 2000 species: worldwide, especially warm regions; some cultivated (e.g., Abelmoschus , okra; Alcea ; Gossypium , cotton; Hibiscus , Malvaviscus )
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include Sterculiaceae [Angiosperm phylogeny Group 1998 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 85:531–553; Alverson et al. 1999 Amer J Bot 86:1474–1486; Bayer et al. 1999 Bot J Linn Soc 129:267–303]
Mature fruit important for identification.

ABUTILON

INDIAN MALLOW

Annual, perennial herb, shrub, stellate-canescent, tomentose, or bristly-hairy
Stem decumbent to erect
Leaf: blade crenate or toothed, cordate, lobes generally 0
Inflorescence: flowers solitary in axils or in leafy panicles; bractlets subtending calyx 0
Flower: petals yellow to reddish; anthers borne at top of filament tube; stigmas head-like
Fruit ± cylindric to ± spheric; segments smooth-sided, beaked, walls firm, sometimes woody, generally not separating, dehiscent ± to base
Seeds 2–9 per fruit segment
Species in genus: 200 species: warm regions
Etymology: (Arabic name)
Reference: [Borssum Waalkes 1966 Blumea 14:159–177]

Native

A. palmeri A. Gray

Subshrub
Stem 15–20 dm; hairs stellate (and either long and soft or bristly)
Leaf: blade 2–5 cm wide, ± round, cordate, velvety; lobes 3, obscure
Flower: calyx 9–15 mm, = or > mature fruit; petals 10–20 mm, orange
Fruit: segments generally 7–10, ± 10 mm tall, bristly or densely soft-hairy, beaks 1.5–2 mm, ± erect
Ecology: Uncommon. Dry, generally e-facing mtn slopes, creosote-bush scrub
Elevation: 600–800 m.
Bioregional distribution: Sonoran Desert, adjacent Peninsular Ranges
Distribution outside California: Arizona, n Mexico
Flowering time: Apr–May
Horticultural information: DRN, DRY, SUN: 8, 9, 11, 12, 13.