Biennial, or occasionally annual or short-lived perennial herbs to 2 m or more tall. Stems hairy at the tip. Leaves roundish with 3, 5 or 7 toothed lobes, rough on both surfaces, the largest leaves are at the base and long stalked. Bracts below calyx (epicalyx) (5-)6(-9). Flowers about 5-10 cm wide, 1-4 in the axils of small leaves; stalks short. Sepals fused at the base, single or double, from yellow or white to pink and purple. Fruit segments furrowed on the back and edged with rough wings. [Althaea rosea (L.) Cav.]
Probably native to W Asia but widely naturalised
Possibly of hybrid origin.
Occasionally grown as an annual bedding plant.
Naturalised in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
Seed or sideshoots.
Medicinal.
Fruit without a central projection.
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.
