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Malvaviscus arboreus

(Malvaviscus Arboreus)

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Drummonds Hibiscus, Malvaviscus Arboreus, Mexican Turks Cap, Sleepy Hibiscus, Turk´s-Cap, Turks Cap, Wax Mallow

Common Names in Spanish:

Flor De Santos, Manzanillo, Monacillo, Obelisco De La Sierra, Tripa De Buey, Tulipancillo

Description

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Family Malvaceae

Herbs, shrubs , or less often trees ; indumentum usually with peltate scales or stellate hairs . Leaves alternate, stipulate , petiolate ; leaf blade usually palmately veined, entire or various lobed . Flowers solitary, less often in small cymes or clusters , axillary or subterminal , often aggregated into terminal racemes or panicles, usually conspicuous , actinomorphic , usually bisexual (unisexual in Kydia) . Epicalyx often present, forming an involucre around calyx, 3- to many lobed. Sepals 5, valvate , free or connate . Petals 5, free, contorted, or imbricate, basally adnate to base of filament tube . Stamens usually very many, filaments connate into tube; anthers 1-celled. Pollen spiny . Ovary superior, with 2-25 carpels, often separating from one another and from axis; ovules 1 to many per locule; style as many or 2 × as many as pistils, apex branched or capitate. Fruit a loculicidal capsule or a schizocarp, separating into individual mericarps, rarely berrylike when mature (Malvaviscus) ; carpels sometimes with an endoglossum (a crosswise projection from back wall of carpel to make it almost completely septate . Seeds often reniform , glabrous or hairy , sometimes conspicuously so.

About 100 genera and ca. 1000 species: tropical and temperate regions of N and S Hemisphere; 19 genera (four introduced ) and 81 species (24 endemic, 16 introduced) in China.

Molecular studies have shown that the members of the Bombacaceae, Malvaceae, Sterculiaceae, and Tiliaceae form a very well-defined monophyletic group that is divided into ten also rather well-defined clades, only two of which correspond to the traditional families Bombacaceae and Malvaceae. Some of the remaining groups are included entirely within either of the remaining families but others cut across the traditional divide between the Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae. A majority of authors , most notably Bayer and Kubitzki (Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 5: 225-311. 2003), has favored including everything within a greatly enlarged Malvaceae, and treating the individual clades as subfamilies. The alternative view is that the individual clades should be treated as a series of ten families: Bombacaceae (Bombacoideae), Brownlowiaceae (Brownlowioideae), Byttneriaceae (Byttnerioideae), Durionaceae (Durionoideae), Helicteraceae (Helicteroideae), Malvaceae (Malvoideae), Pentapetaceae (Dombeyoideae), Sparrmanniaceae (Grewioideae), Sterculiaceae (Sterculioideae), and Tiliaceae (Tilioideae) (Cheek in Heywood et al. , Fl. Pl. Fam. World. 201-202. 2007) . For the present treatment, we prefer to retain the familiar, traditional four families, so as to maintain continuity with the treatments in FRPS, and to await a consensus on the two alternative strategies for dealing with the very widely accepted clades.

The traditional Malvaceae coincides exactly with one of the major clades. The only possible problem is the relationship with the Bombacaceae, which also has primarily 1-loculed anthers, and some authorities have suggested that the Bombacaceae should be included within the Malvaceae.

Members of the Malvaceae are important as fiber crops (particularly cotton, Gossypium) . Young leaves of many species can be used as vegetables, and species of Abelmoschus and Hibiscus are grown as minor food crops. Many species have attractive flowers and an ever-increasing selection is grown as ornamentals . Several have been cultivated for a very long time, particularly species of Hibiscus, and some of these are not known in the wild.[1]

Genus Malvaviscus

Shrubs or small trees , sometimes scandent , pubescent or glabrous . Leaves simple ; stipules subulate , caducous ; leaf blade elliptic or ovate , entire or 3-5-lobed, base truncate or cordate, margin crenate to dentate ; foliar nectaries lacking. Flowers solitary, axillary , or sometimes in terminal cymelike clusters . Epicalyx lobes 5-10(-12), linear , lanceolate, or spatulate . Calyx campanulate or tubular , 5-lobed. Corolla tubular; petals 5, red or crimson-red, bases auriculate , remaining adpressed to staminal column. Filament tube longer than corolla, apex 5-toothed; anthers below teeth, on outside of staminal column only. Ovary 5-loculed; ovules 1 per locule; style branches 10; stigmas capitate. Fruit a fleshy schizocarp, usually red (sometimes white), broader than long, ultimately drying and separating into mericarps; mericarps 5, indehiscent. Seeds 1 per carpel.

About five species: native to tropical America, but several now widely cultivated; two species (both introduced ) in China.

The genus is highly variable morphologically, with many populational forms that intergrade . This variation has led to widely differing opinions as to the number of species and subspecific taxa.[2]

Physical Description

Species Malvaviscus arboreus

50' understory small shrub to treelet. Simple softly pubescent acuminate leaves, approximately 12-15 cm in length , with rounded , cordate bases . Leaf margins are serrated , and venation is palmate with the leaf having three distinct tips (somewhat like a maple, Acer species, of northern temperate forests). Flowers are distinctive, bright red, 5 cm in length, and hummingbird pollinated.

Habit: Evergreen .

Flowers: Red flowers attract hummingbirds. • Bloom Period: June, July, August, September, October, November. • Flower Color: red

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 6-8' tall.

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,524 meters (0 to 8,281 feet).[3]

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 36-48" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 6.0

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

An accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.

Name Status: Accepted Name. Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Diss. 3:131, t. 48, fig. 1. 1787

Name verified on 25-Feb-1986 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 16-Jul-2002

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Malvaviscus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 84 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

M. acapulcensis · M. acerifolius · M. achanioides · M. arboreus (Malvaviscus Arboreus) · M. arboreus 'Compactus' · M. arboreus cubensis · M. arboreus pink-flowered · M. arboreus 'Rosa-Flora Pendula' · M. arboreus subsp. penduliflorus · M. arboreus var. arboreus (Wax Mallow) · M. arboreus var. brihondus · M. arboreus var. cubensis · M. arboreus var. drummondii (Malvaviscus Arboreus Var. Drum) · M. arboreus var. lobatus · M. arboreus var. longifolius · M. arboreus var. mexicanus · M. arboreus var. mexicanus 'Blush' (Mexican Turks Cap) · M. arboreus var. mexicanus 'Paquito Pink' (Pink Mexican Turks Cap) · M. arboreus var. mexicanus 'Rosea' (Mexican Turks Cap) · M. arboreus var. parviflorus · M. arboreus var. sloanei · M. balbisii · M. 'Big Momma' · M. brevibracteatus · M. brevipes · M. candida 'Variegata' (Variegated Turks Cap) · M. candidus · M. chloranthus · M. ciliatus · M. cinereus · M. coccineus · M. cokeri · M. concinnus · M. conzattii · M. cordatus · M. cordifolius · M. cuspidatus · M. cutteri · M. drummondii · M. drummondii var. drummondii · M. elegans · M. flavidus · M. floridanus · M. funckeanus · M. grandiflorus · M. guerkeanus · M. hintonii · M. integrifolius · M. jordan-mottii · M. lanceolatus · M. leucocarpus · M. longifolius · M. malvaviscus · M. maynensis · M. mollis · M. multiflorus · M. oaxacanus · M. oligotrichus · M. palmanus · M. palmatus · M. palmeri · M. 'Pam Puryear' · M. penduliflorus (Turk's Cap) · M. pentacarpus · M. pilosus · M. pleurantherus · M. pleurogonus · M. poeppigii · M. polakowskyi · M. populifolius · M. populneus · M. pringlei · M. pulvinatus · M. puniceus · M. rivularis · M. sagraeanus · M. sepium · M. spathulatus · M. speciosus · M. splendens · M. ulei · M. urticifolius · M. velutinus · M. williamsii

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 18, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Ya Tang, Michael G. Gilbert & Laurence J. Dorr "Malvaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 240, 264,299, 302. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Malvaviscus". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 264, 265, 282,286. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 346.830 meters (1,137.894 feet), Standard Deviation = 497.180 based on 933 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009