''Abutilon palmeri'', known as Palmer's abutilon, superstition mallow, and Palmer's Indian mallow is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

native the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

and northwestern Mexico. The plant is found in the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

in Arizona, and in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

in the Sonoran

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

and adjacent eastern foothill

ecotone An ecotone is a transitional area between two plant communities, where these meet and integrate. Examples include areas between grassland and forest, estuaries and lagoon, freshwater and sea water etc. An ecotone may be narrow or wide, and it ma ...

s of the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Pacific Coast Range ...

Description

''Abutilon palmeri'' is a semi-evergreen

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

growing high by wide. The

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

and

stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

coloration is green to reddish brown and

pubescent The adjective pubescent may describe: * people or animals undergoing puberty * plants that are hairy, covered in trichomes * insects that are covered in setae In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-lik ...

. The alternate leaves are velvety and heart-shaped (nearly round to

cordate Cordate is an adjective meaning ' heart-shaped' and is most typically used for: * Cordate (leaf shape), in plants * Cordate axe, a prehistoric stone tool See also * Chordate A chordate ( ) is a bilaterian animal belonging to the phyl ...

). The leaves are

serrate Serration is a saw-like appearance or a row of sharp or tooth-like projections. A serrated cutting edge has many small points of contact with the material being cut. By having less contact area than a smooth blade or other edge, the applied pr ...

and densely woolly, giving a bluish, grey-green cast to the foliage. The cup-shaped flowers are yellow to orange with 5 petals and approximately in size. It blooms for most of the year. The plant produces small, capsular fruits approximately in diameter each. The fruit is multi-parted and covered with silky pubescence similar to the foliage.

Cultivation

''Abutilon palmeri'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

by specialty nurseries for planting in

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

xeriscape Xeriscaping is the process of landscaping, or gardening, that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. It is promoted in regions that do not have accessible, plentiful, or reliable supplies of fresh water and has gained acceptance in other ...

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or habitat garden or backyard restoration) is an Biophysical environment, environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater t ...

s, and in

natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance Natural landscaping is adapted to t ...

projects in warm climates.Las Pilitas Horticultural Database: ''Abutilon palmeri'' (Indian Mallow)
/ref>

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual treatment for ''Abutilon palmeri''CalFlora Database: ''Abutilon palmeri'' (Palmer's abutilon, Palmer's Indian mallow)''Abutilon palmeri'' — UC Photos gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3282774 palmeri Flora of Arizona Flora of California Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Shrubs