''Abelmoschus crinitus'' is a species of flowering plant belonging to the mallow family. It was first described by

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British East Indi ...

in 1830.

Habitat

''A. crinitus'' is native to China, the Philippines, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Java. There have been a number of reports of the plant growing in Pakistan but its presence is rare. It is found in deciduous forests and on grassy slopes between 300 and 1300 m.

Characteristics

''A. crinitus'' is a perennial shrub. Its stems grow up to 1 m tall. The leaves are "ovate-pentagonal" in shape with 3–5 shallow lobes and reach a maximum size of 8×7 cm. ''Stellate''

Trichome Trichomes (; ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...

is present on both the upper and lower leaf surfaces, though it is more dense on the underside. The flowers are a "creamy-white to deep orange-yellow" colour and occasionally have a reddish centre. They have 5–6

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s measuring 7–11 mm in length which are green when in flower and brown when in fruit.

References

*Wall. 1830. ''Plantae Asiaticae Rariores'' 1: 39, t. 44.

crinitus Pietro Crinito (22 May 1474 – 5 July 1507), known as Crinitus, or Pietro Del Riccio Baldi (derived from Riccio, 'curly', translated into Latin as ''crinitus''), was a Florentine humanist scholar and poet who was a disciple of Poliziano. He i ...

Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of China Flora of Indo-China Flora of Java Flora of the Philippines {{Hibisceae-stub