ABUTILON THEOPHRASTI

Family and Genus:- See- MALVACEAE

Common Names:- Tientsig jute

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Abutilon Arabic name for a mallow

Theophrasti (L) For Theophrastus (370-285 BC). Greek scholar and

father of botany.

General description:- Erect annual, sparingly branched,, soft-pubemlent

throughout.

Stems:-

1) 50-100 cm tall, sparingly branched, hairs mostly simple, patent, glandular and

eglandular.

Leaves:-

1) Long-petiolate, blade, large (up to 20 cm), suborbicular, cordate at the base,

shortly acuminate, shallowly crenate, hairs thin, stellate, eglandular.

Flower:-

1) In small cymes in the axils of the upper leaves.

a) peduncles, shorter than the petioles.

2) Sepals, united in lower half.

3) Epicalyx, absent.

4) Petals, 7-13 mm, orange-yellow.

Fruit:-

1) Mericarps, c. 13, exceeding the calyx, black, hirsute, with a slender, erecto-

patent beak.

2) Seeds, finely tuberculate.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Field margins and ruderal habitats. 0-500(-900) m.

Distribution:- Scattered in mainland Greece, Peloponnisos and the Ionian Islands.

An alien species of uncertain origin. On Crete known only from a few scattered

locations. Rare.

Flowering time:- (June-) July-Oct.

Photos by:- Artemis Roukounakis