Abutilon hirtum (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Cereal / pulse
Fruit
Medicinal
Ornamental
Forage / feed
Fibre
Food security

Abutilon hirtum (Lam.) Sweet

Protologue: Hort. Brit.: 53 (1826).

Family: Malvaceae

Chromosome number: 2n = 42

Synonyms

• Sida hirta Lam. (1783),
• Abutilon graveolens (Roxb. ex Hornem.) Wight & Arn. (1833).

Vernacular names

• Florida Keys Indian mallow (En).

Origin and geographic distribution

Abutilon hirtum is a pantropical species. In tropical Africa it occurs in Cape Verde and from Niger and Nigeria eastward to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, and southward to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. It also occurs in Réunion and Mauritius.

Uses

The stem bark is used for making string, and fibre from the bark is made into cordage and cloth. In Kenya the fruits are eaten raw, while the leaves are browsed by cattle, goats and camels. In the same country the species is said to be used to ease childbirth and to expel the placenta. In traditional veterinary medicine in Uganda a water extract of the bark is used to expel a retained placenta. The plant has ornamental value.

Properties

The bark fibre is recorded to be long, fine, soft and strong. The presence of alkaloids in the plant has been recorded.

Description

Perennial herb or shrub up to 2.5 m tall; all or most parts with sticky yellow to orange basally swollen glandular hairs, sparsely tomentose and often with long simple hairs. Leaves alternate, simple; stipules linear to subulate, 3–12 mm long, persistent; petiole 1–20 cm long; blade ovate to suborbicular, 2–24 cm × 1–19.5 cm, cordate at the base, acute to acuminate at the apex, margin toothed, both surfaces hairy, palmately 5–9-veined. Flowers solitary in leaf axils or in narrow panicle with simple or branched peduncle, bisexual, regular; pedicel 1.5–7 cm long, accrescent; epicalyx absent; calyx bell-shaped, 7–18 mm long, 5-fid with oval segments, cuspidate; petals 5, united at the base and adnate to the base of the staminal column, 15–27 mm long, yellow to bright orange, often with dark red to purple base, hairy at the base; stamens many, staminal column 5–9 mm long, filaments 3–5 mm long; ovary superior. Fruit a subglobose schizocarp of follicle-like mericarps, 1–1.5 cm × 1–2.5 cm, truncate, depressed; mericarps 16–30, oblong, 8–12(–14) mm × 5–9(–10) mm, truncate above and terminating in a minute tooth, (1–) 3-seeded. Seeds c. 2.5 mm × 2.5 mm, black, reticulate, papillose.

Abutilon comprises 100–150 species and is distributed in the tropics and subtropics. There is a need for further taxonomical study as the circumscription of several species is obscure.

Ecology

The plant occurs from sea level up to 1800 m altitude in woodland, bushland, savannas, overgrazed grassland, roadsides, hedges and fences, often near rivers and other moist locations. It is sometimes found on termite nests.

Management

Abutilon hirtum is a host for okra mosaic virus (OkMV).

Genetic resources

Abutilon hirtum is widely distributed in Africa and occurs in a wide range of habitats. Therefore it is not under any threat of genetic erosion.

Prospects

Abutilon hirtum is of local importance only. Unfortunately, too little information on the fibre properties is available to make a proper assessment of its prospects as a fibre plant.

Major references

• Beentje, H.J., 1994. Kenya trees, shrubs and lianas. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya. 722 pp.

• Burkill, H.M., 1997. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 4, Families M–R. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 969 pp.

• Bussmann, R.W., 2006. Ethnobotany of the Samburu of Mt. Nyiru, South Turkana, Kenya. Journal of Ethnobiology & Ethnomedicine 2: 35.

• Stave, J., Oba, G., Nordal, I. & Stenseth, N.C., 2007. Traditional ecological knowledge of a riverine forest in Turkana, Kenya: implications for research and management. Biodiversity Conservation 16: 1471–1489.

• Verdcourt, B. & Mwachala, G.M., 2009. Malvaceae. In: Beentje, H.J. & Ghazanfar, S.A. (Editors). Flora of Tropical East Africa. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 169 pp.

Other references

• Balu Perumal, 2001. Abutilon Miller. In: van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H. & Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors). Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, Netherlands. pp. 29–31.

• Duarte, M.C., Gomes, I. & Moreira, I., 2002. Ilha de Santiago (Cabo Verde): notas florísticas e fitogeográficas (2). Garcia de Orta, Série de Botânica 15(1): 55–58.

• Gradé, J.T., Tabuti, J.R.S. & van Damme, P., 2009. Ethnoveterinary knowledge in pastoral Karamoja, Uganda. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 122: 273–293.

• Marais, W. & Friedmann, F., 1987. Malvacées. In: Bosser, J., Cadet, T., Guého, J. & Marais, W. (Editors). Flore des Mascareignes. Familles 51–62. The Sugar Industry Research Institute, Mauritius, l’Office de la Recherche Scientifique Outre-Mer, Paris, France & Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 57 pp.

• Mauersberger, H.R. (Editor), 1954. Textile fibers: their physical, microscopic and chemical properties. 6th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York, United States. 1283 pp.

• Munirajappa, & D. G. Krishnappa, 1993. Cytotaxonomic studies in some south Indian species of Abutilon. Journal of Cytology and Genetics 28: 71–76.

• Raffauf, R.F., 1996. Plant alkaloids: a guide to their discovery and distribution. Food Products Press, New York, United States. 279 pp.

• SEPASAL, 2009. Abutilon hirtum. [Internet] Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. http://www.kew.org/ ceb/sepasal/. November 2009.

• Thulin, M., 1999. Malvaceae. In: Thulin, M. (Editor). Flora of Somalia. Volume 2. Angiospermae (Tiliaceae-Apiaceae). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. pp. 40–83.

• Vollesen, K., 1995. Malvaceae. In: Edwards, S., Mesfin Tadesse & Hedberg, I. (Editors). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Volume 2, part 2. Canellaceae to Euphorbiaceae. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. pp. 190–256.

Author(s)

• E.G. Achigan Dako, PROTA Network Office Africa, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), P.O. Box 30677-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Correct citation of this article

Achigan-Dako, E.G., 2010. Abutilon hirtum (Lam.) Sweet. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Brink, M. & Achigan-Dako, E.G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.

Accessed 12 December 2024.

• See the Prota4U database.