Greenflower Indian mallow

Description

Abutilon sandwicense, commonly known as the greenflower Indian mallow, is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae, that is endemic to the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii, in the United States. It inhabits dry forests on the slopes of the Waiʻanae Range at elevations of 400-600 m (1,300-2,000 ft). Associated plants include lama (Diospyros sandwicensis), ēlama (D. hillebrandii), māmaki (Pipturus albidus), kalia (Elaeocarpus bifidus), āulu (Sapindus oahuensis), olopua (Nestegis sandwicensis), and alaheʻe (Psydrax odorata). Greenflower Indian mallow is a shrub, reaching a height of 1.5-3 m (4.9-9.8 ft). It is threatened by habitat loss. Abutilon sandwich is a species of Magnoliopsida first described by Degener, and given its simplistic Asian name by Erling Christophersen. Abutilon sandwicense belongs to the genus Abutilon, and the family Malvaceae. The IUCN classifies the species as endangered. 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. Plants of this genus include herbs, shrubs, and trees. They range in height from about 0.5 to 3 meters (1.5 to 10 feet). The herbage is generally hairy to woolly or bristly. The leaf blades are usually entire, but the occasional species has lobed leaves. They are palmately veined and have wavy or serrated edges. Flowers are solitary, paired, or borne in small inflorescences in the leaf axils or toward the branch tips. The calyx is bell-shaped with five lobes. The corolla is usually bell-shaped to wheel-shaped, with five petals joined at the bases. The flowers of wild species are most often yellow or orange, but can be red or pinkish, sometimes with a darker center. The stamens are fused into a tube lined at the mouth with anthers. Inside the tube is the branching style with head-like stigmas. The fruit is a rounded or hemispherical schizocarp with up to 20 segments, each containing a few seeds.