Volume 14 > Part 2 > Year 2019 > Page 316 > Malvaceae > Malvaviscus

1. Malvaviscus arboreus Cav.wfo-0000449492

Diss. 3: 131, t. 48, f. 1. 1787; DC., Prodr. 1: 445. 1824; Schlecht., Linnaea 11: 359. 1837; Y.Tang, M.G.Gilbert & L. J., Dorr, Fl. China 12: 283. 2007.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Shrub ca 1 m tall; branchlets pubescent or glabrescent. Leaves broadly ovate to cordate, sometimes 3-lobed, 5–10 by 2.5–8 cm, base cuneate, rounded or cordate, apex acuminate, margin crenate or irregularly crenate, stellate hairy on both surfaces; basal veins 3 or 5. Petiole 2–5 cm, puberulent. Stipules filiform, 4–5 mm long, caducous. Flower solitary, axillary, erect; peduncles 0.3–1.5 cm, hairy. Epicalyx lobes 5–10, linear, lanceolate, 8–15 mm long, connate at base, hairy. Calyx campanulate, ca 1 cm in diam.; 5-lobed, lower half connate, hairy. Corolla cylindrical, red, slightly expanded at apex. Petals 2.5–5 cm long. Staminal column 5–7 cm long, exceeding corolla. Ovary 5-locular; ovule 1 in each locule; stylar branches 10, exceeding staminal column; stigmas capitate. Schizocarp globose, ca 1 cm in diam., white, red when ripe; separating into 5 indehiscent mericarps when dry. Seed 1 per mericarp.

Thailand : Cultivated all over the country.

Distribution : Tropical America, now widely cultivated throughout the world.

Ecology : Cultivated in gardens.

Vernacular : Chaba khrae (ชบาแคระ), chaba nu lek (ชบาหนูเล็ก).