Plant: subshrub; to 1.5 m tall

Leaves: ovate, 2-10 cm long, dentate, pubescent

INFLORESCENCE: flowers solitary or in racemes or panicles

Flowers: orange-yellow, solitary or in racemes or panicles; calyx 9-12 mm long, the lobes cordate; petals 10-12 mm long; staminal column 3-4 mm long, pubescent; styles 8-10

Fruit: FRUITS subequal to calyx, 10-16 mm diameter; mericarps 8-10, minutely stellate-pubescent and with longer simple hairs (0.5-1 mm) on dorsal margin. SEEDS 3 mm long, with scabridulous hairs arranged in a reticulate pattern

Misc: In open arid habitats; generally below 1200 m (4000 ft); flowering throughout the year

Notes: hairs are 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.

Common Name: shrubby Indian mallow

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Subshrub to 2 m tall with slender stems that are densely to sparsely stellate puberulent but becoming glabrate, the herbage densely stellate-tomentulose, with linear stipules 7-10 mm long.

Leaves: Alternate and broadly ovate, acuminate, 2-10 cm long, dentate, pubescent, dark green above, densely tomentose and canescent below.

Flowers: Pedicels and peduncles to 5 cm long, solitary or in racemes or panicles, calyx 9-12 mm long, lobes cordate, petals orange yellow 10-12 mm long, with 3-4 mm staminal column.

Fruits: Subequal to calyx, 10-16 mm in diameter, with 8-10 mericarps, minutely stellate pubescent and with longer simple hairs on dorsal margin.

Ecology: Found in open arid habitat below 4,000 ft (1219 m), flowers August-December.

Distribution: Ranges across central and southern Arizona, east to Texas, south to central Mexico and into the West Indies.

Notes: Distinguish this species by its being a gray-green subshrub to 1.5 m tall with mostly ascending-erect stems, stellate hairs all over; leaves 2-10 cm long, longer than wide; fruit sections 8-10, the fruits with stellate and simple hairs. There is a little uncertainty within the taxonomy of this genus, Fryxell 1993 combines the old A. californicum and A. lignosum into this species, while it appears that other aggregating authorities like Tropicos place this species as only A. lignosum and accepts A. berlandieri as a separate species. We treat both using an older version that separates out A. californicum as the latter species under Wiggins 1964 treatment.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Abutilon is from the Arabic word for a mallow-like plant, while abutiloides is like a double-whammy of a name, meaning like the genus Abutilon.

Synonyms: Notably, Abutilon lignosum, several others see Tropicos

Editor: SBuckley 2011, FSCoburn 2015