Desert lantern

Description

Abutilon otocarpum, the desert lantern, is a small shrub of the family Malvaceae found in most parts of Australia. This shrub can grow to 60 cm tall, with flat leaves that alternate up its stem. Leaves of the desert lantern can grow to 1.5-6 cm long and are narrow to circular, hairy and toothed. The flowers are yellow, with 5 petals, borne singly on stalks originating at the bases of the leaves, often appearing clustered at the ends of the stems. The desert lantern differs from dwarf lantern flower (Abutilon fraseri) and plains lantern-bush (Abutilon halophilum) in that the petals are about the same length as the calyx, and from velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) in that the tops of the fruitlets in the fruiting body have very short points. Semi-arid districts; on red sandy soils, sand rises and dunes. Occurs on sandplains and low sandy rises, dunefields, fertile alluvial plains, Mulga-dominated red earth plains, intermittent watercourses and run-on areas, and rocky or gravelly ranges, hills or rises composed of neutral or acidic rocks. Growing wild in a range of climates from warm temperate to the tropical zone, it is found particularly in semi-arid areas of the tropics and subtropics. Plants in this genus generally require a position in full sun or part day shade, and a fertile well-drained soil. The desert lantern can be in flower for much of the year. A fibre was obtained from the stem bark by the Aborigines, but it is unknown if the plant is still utilized today. Abutilon otocarpum is a species of Magnoliopsida described by Ferdinand von Mueller. Abutilon otocarpum belongs to the genus Abutilon, and the family Malvaceae. Abutilon is a large genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf; ornamental varieties may be known as room maple, parlor maple, or flowering maple. The genus name is an 18th-century New Latin word that came from the Arabic ’abū-ṭīlūn the name given by Avicenna to this or a similar genus. The type species is Abutilon theophrasti. Several species formerly placed in Abutilon, including the cultivated species and hybrids commonly known as "flowering maples", have recently (2012, 2014) been transferred to the new genus Callianthe.