Common Name: Berlandier's Indian mallow

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Shrub

General: Erect, openly branched shrub 1-2 m tall.

Leaves: Alternate, densely stellate tomentose, slightly scurfy leaves, with linear stipules to 15 mm long, petioles 1-2.5 cm long, the leaf blades broadly ovate-cordate, 1.5-10 cm long, rounded acute apex, indistinctly dentate-crenate, slightly paler beneath than above, thick.

Flowers: Peduncles and pedicels together 1-3 cm long, the calyx lobes cordate-ovate, 6-8 mm wide, 4-7 mm long, acuminate, to 10 mm long in fruit, petals yellow-orange, 1-1.5 cm long, night-blooming.

Fruits: These 10-12 mm wide, 9-10 mm high, the mericarps oblong to oblong ovate, the body 7-8 mm long, stellate puberulent.

Ecology: Found on rocky slopes in valleys and in canyons from 2,000-5,000 ft (610-1524 m); flowers March-September.

Distribution: Ranges across central and southern Arizona, south into Baja California, and south through Sinaloa to Oaxaca.

Notes: There is still a little uncertainty with this species. Identified as A. californicum according to most recent nomenclature under Tropicos.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Abutilon is from the Arabic word for a mallow-like plant, while berlandieri is named after Jean Louis Berlandier (1805-1851), a Belgian botanist who conducted botanical explorations in Texas and New Mexico.

Synonyms: Abutilon californicum

Editor: SBuckley, 2011