4983.000 Abutilon Mill.

Biennial to perennial herbs or shrubs, usually with stellate hairs. Leaves petiolate, usually ± ovate with a cordate base. Flowers yellow, orange or apricot, usually opening in the afternoon. Epicalyx 0. Fruit of (5-)10-c.40 mericarps arranged round a central axis; (1-)2-3(-9)seeded. Not an easy genus to name. As in Sida it is ± essential to have ripe mericarps.

Derivation of name: Arabic vernacular name for a species of this genus

Worldwide: Over 100 species in tropical and warm zones

Botswana: 8 taxa.