Plant Name
Scientific Name: Abutilon reventum
Common Names: Yellowflower Indian Mallow, Yellow-flower Indian-mallow, Yellow Indian Mallow
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert (upper elevation), Upland. This large-leaved, uncommon wildflower grows on slopes in the mountain foothills and in rocky canyons with streams.
Flower Color: Yellow
Flowering Season: Summer (late), Fall. It blooms after the summer monsoon rains.
Height: To 6 feet (1.8 m) tall
Description: The flowers are in terminal panicles above the leaves. The individual flowers are 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and have 5 bright yellow, fan-shaped, cupped petals and a cluster of yellow anthers atop a hairless staminal column. The flowers are followed by schizocarps with variable numbers of carpels, each containing 3 to 4 seeds. The leaves have finely saw-toothed margins and are dull green above, whitish gray below, velvety-hairy, alternate, palmately-veined, petiolate, and heart-shaped with a narrow, tapering tip. The leaves are very large, with petioles up to 6 inches (15 cm) long and leaf blades up to 10 inches (25 cm) long. The stems are upright, green to tinged reddish above and woody at the base, and almost hairless or covered with tiny, short, fuzzy hairs.
Of the other two similarly large-leaved Abutilon species found here, Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) does not have discolorous leaves (leaves that are markedly different colors on the top and bottom sides), while Sonoran Indian Mallow (Abutilon mollicomum) has long hairs on the stems. The also similar Indian Anoda (Anoda abutiloides) has flowers with a hairy staminal column.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Dilleniidae
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae – Mallow family
Genus: Abutilon Mill. – Indian mallow
Species: Abutilon reventum S. Watson – yellowflower Indian mallow
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