Plant: Subshrub; ca. 1 m tall (rarely taller)

Leaves: ovate, to 6 cm long (often smaller), irregularly serrulate, densely tomentulose

INFLORESCENCE: flowers solitary or in open panicles

Flowers: calyx 3-5 mm long; corolla yellow or pink with dark red center, the petals reflexed, 4-6 mm long; staminal column 2-3 mm long, purplish, minutely pubescent; styles 5

Fruit: FRUITS a schizocarp, exceeding the calyx, ca. 6 mm diameter, tomentulose; mericarps 5, acute or apiculate at apex, 3-seeded; SEEDS ca. 2 mm long, minutely pubescent but appearing glabrous

Misc: In open, arid well-drained slopes; 300-1200 m (1000-4000 ft); flowering throughout the year but principally Oct-Nov

Notes: hairs stellate

References: P. Fryxell - Malvaceae - JANAS 27:222-236.ASU specimens.

REFERENCES: Fryxell, Paul A. 1994. Malvaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 222-236.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Subshrub with slender stems 0.5-2 m tall, minutely stellate-tomentose, velvety pubescent herbage.

Leaves: Ovate to lance-ovate, 0.5-3 cm wide, 1.5-6 cm long, irregularly serrulate, minutely grayish-tomentose on both surfaces, slightly paler beneath, acute to short-acuminate or sometimes obtuse at apex.

Flowers: Axillary or subpaniculate near tips of branches, peduncles and pedicels together 1-2.5 cm long, slender; calyx lobes ovate, abruptly mucronate, 3-5 mm long, reflexed in fruit; petals yellow or pink with dark red center, petals reflexed, 4-6 mm long; staminal column 2-3 mm long, purplish, minutely pubescent, 5 styles.

Fruits: Exceeding the calyx, about 6 mm in diameter, tomentulose, with 5 mericarps, acute or apiculate at apex, 3-seeded.

Ecology: Found on open, arid well-drained slopes from 1,000-4,000 ft (305-1219 m); flowers April-October.

Notes: One of the more common Abutilon in the Sonoran desert, often seen in its dormant phase with the whitish stems, remnant fruits, and a few scraggly greenish leaves near the base. In spring this species greens up and can grow quite large. Distinguished by being a gray-green perennial densely hairy with stellate hairs on leaves and stems, its heart-shaped leaves with toothed margins which hang down; yellow or pink petals with red veins and fruits with 5 sections, or mericarps (abutiloides has 8-10).

Ethnobotany: Flowers, roots and bark used for stomachaches.

Etymology: Abutilon is from the Arabic word for a mallow-like plant, while incanum means grayish or hoary.

Synonyms: Abutilon incanum subsp. incanum, Abutilon incanum subsp. pringlei, Abutilon pringlei

Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015