Greek alkea—the mallow.
Biennial, perennial or occasionally annual, mostly unbranched herbs. Leaves simple, unlobed to palmately lobed. Flowers in a spike, individual flowers 1-4 in the leaf axils, with 3-11 bracts (epicalyx) that are fused together at the base. Petals 5 (more in double cultivars), variously coloured. Stamens in a 5-angled tubular column. Fruit of up to about 40 segments (mericarps) each of 2 chambers, one of which contains a single seed.
Medicinal.
5-angled staminal column.
About 60 species from the E Mediterranean to C Asia.
Source: (1997). Abutilon. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
