Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Chinese lantern

(Callianthe picta)

galery
en

Description

Abutilon pictum, syn. Abutilon striatum (disputed), is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to southern Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The plant has become naturalised in Central America, and is used in horticulture. Common names include redvein abutilon, red vein Indian mallow, redvein flowering maple, Chinese-lantern and red vein Chinese lanterns. Abutilon pictum is a shrub growing to 5 metres (16 ft) tall by 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide. The leaves are 5–15 cm long, three- to five- (rarely seven-) lobed. The yellow to orange-red bell shaped flowers have prominent dark red veining, with five petals 2–4 cm long. It blooms from April to September, and longer in warmer subtropical areas. The flowers attract pollinators, such as native bees and hummingbirds. The Latin specific epithet pictum means “painted”. The flowers are edible, raw or cooked, with the sweet flavor increasing the longer the bloom is open. Abutilon pictum is cultivated as a popular ornamental plant, for use in gardens in subtropical and warm temperate climates. It is also planted in containers or pots, on patios and balconies outdoors, or as a winter house plant. The plant can grow in light shade or full sun, and is frost tender, not tolerating temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F). It requires moist soil, preferring fertile sandy, loamy, or well-drained clay soils. 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.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Malvales
Family:Malvaceae
Genus:Abutilon
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